Just Life
by Guenelyn
Summary: I had no car, my skip had gotten away, my boyfriend thought that I was Calamity Jane, and Batman was expecting me at the hotel tomorrow dressed as a sophisticated slut. What had my life come to? Eventual Babe story.
1. Wrecked

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Janet Evanovich…although I wouldn't turn Ranger away if he turned up on my doorstep.

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: This is my first Stephanie Plum fic, and I have to say, I'm having so much fun writing it. I hope you guys will have just as much fun reading it. Let me know what you think!

* * *

There are some up-sides to being a Fugitive Apprehension Agent. You get to carry pepper spray that'll knock a grown man to the ground in 1.5 seconds, you get to wear bad-ass Bounty Hunter gear, and if you're really good at it, there's decent money to be had. Unfortunately, I'm not really good at it, and so I'm frequently forced to supplement my income. The source of said supplementation is currently one Ricardo Carlos "Ranger" Manoso, my mentor, sometimes-boss, and once-in-a-fit-of-passion lover. I try really hard to ignore the lover part, but the man is 6'2" of hard, smooth Cuban-American perfection. His eyes are dark chocolate and his smile would melt the Wicked Witch of the West quicker than a bucket of water.

I was the one currently melting, but since we were surrounded by Ranger's gang of Merry Men I was keeping the panting and drooling to a bare minimum.

He'd cornered me outside of the bonds office about 2 minutes ago and had yet to say anything besides a soft, "Babe".

Ranger's men Tank and Bobby were standing nearby, eyes always moving, hands not far from their weapons, probably expecting an air raid.

I sighed. "What do you want, Ranger?"

The corners of his mouth quirked up in his thinking-about-smiling smile. I ignored the unspoken suggestion and continued with my long suffering stare.

"I need your help, babe."

Ranger rarely needs help from the likes of me. On any given day, Ranger employs an army of men, all of whom would make Jack's giant look like a midget. Ranger only comes to me when he's in need of a woman's…finesse…either for personal entertainment or in the pursuit of a skip. Since I was currently unavailable and Ranger knew my stand on poaching, I figured it was the latter.

"Who's our guy?" I asked.

His thinking-about-smiling smile turned into a full 100-watt smile. He knew he had me. Bastard.

"Edwin Mortars. Arrested for rape and assault with a deadly weapon. Intel says he'll be at the bar at the Marriott at nine tomorrow."

I nodded. Rapist. Great. "What look am I going for?" There were levels of sluttiness, I'd discovered. I needed to know just what our little FTA would prefer.

Ranger brought two fingers up to my cheek and traced them down to my jaw. I ignored the tingly heat it created somewhere between my belly and my doodah. "Try for sexy sophisticated," he murmured. "Our guy used to be a lawyer."

Great, my second favorite thing besides drunk, abusive rapists? Lawyers. I'd once married one in a fit of temporary insanity, only to find him flat on his back on my dining room table, playing hide the salami with Joyce Barnhardt. The marriage was over before the leftover wedding cake was even fully frozen.

Ranger grinned.

"I'll pick you up at 8," he said. He placed a soft kiss on my lips, and was gone.

I stood for a moment, thinking that I probably should have slapped him for that kiss, decided that no matter how attached a girl was, there was no way she was resisting Carlos Manoso, and climbed into my used-to-be-bright-red Geo Metro.

The Metro was a recent acquisition after my latest car had gone to the great scrap metal yard in the sky following an unfortunate meeting with an angry delivery truck driver. The car was a two-seater with barely enough room for my Jersey-girl hair, but it started, drove in reverse, and stopped like a dream, so who was I to complain? Besides, knowing my luck with cars, it would be a pile of melted metal within the month.

I glanced at the clock on my dashboard, groaned when I realized that there was no way it was noon and the clock must be broken, and pulled out my cell phone. The clock there told me that it was two hours past lunch time so I made a detour to McDonalds and ordered 4.32 worth of clog-your-arteries, rot-your-teeth goodness.

I sat in my car and enjoyed my all-American meal and contemplated what I'd wear tomorrow night. I had plenty of slinky little dresses, more jeans than any one person could possibly wear in a month and enough sweats to clothe a small third-world country. My only non-matronly suit was at the dry cleaners, meaning that I did not have anything that I would classify as "sexy sophisticated". Oh well, I guess I'd just have to suck it up and go shopping. The trials of being me.

I dialed Lula on my way to Macy's and told her to meet me there. Lula wouldn't know sophisticated if it bit her in her voluptuous ass, but she could do sexy until the cows came home. Besides, who else would convince me that the hot little FMP's I really couldn't afford were a lifetime investment?

She was waiting by the doors when I pulled up, wearing skintight leather pants in bright pink and a leopard print tank top that would have made hooker Barbie proud. No one could pull off ostentatious 'ho gear like Lula.

"So what we shoppin' for today, girl?" She asked as I fell into step beside her.

"Ranger needs me to do a distraction job," I explained. "Sexy sophisticated."

"Ranger," she practically sighed. "That fine hunka man still hangin' on you like skinny white boys on playboy?"

I rolled my eyes, not completely understanding her metaphor. "It's a job, Lula."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say. Tell you what, we gonna sexy sophisticate you so good Batman ain't gonna know what hit him."

We'd reached the shoe section and Lula steered us over.

"Lula, I'm really just here for clothes, I have enough…"

The sentence was cut off, forgotten, and left to die as my eyes fell on what had to be the hottest shoes ever. They were bright red patent leather with a four inch heel, peep toes, and an ankle strap. Lula caught me staring.

"Mmm, girl, if those aren't FMP's, I'm sure I don't know what is." She signaled for a salesman and asked for them in my size.

"Really, Lula, I can't afford them."

She shook her head and clucked her tongue. "Girl, shoes like those, they're an investment." What'd I tell you?

"Them shoes, them shoes gonna attract you a man, and that man gonna be loaded and you two're gonna get hitched and he's gonna want you so bad he'll buy you anything you damn-well please. Them shoes gonna pay for themselves."

She had a point. I shook my head. What was I thinking? Of course she didn't have a point. Those shoes were going to attract me some piece of white trash who couldn't afford his own cable payments. Best to just leave them there on that shelf where someone with actual money would see them and take them to a nice home.

Ten minutes later we left the shoe department, hands considerably fuller, credit limits considerable lower. They were really hot shoes, after all.

I split with Lula some time around four, thanking the sales rack fairies for my great finds and the fact that I might be able to afford groceries this week. I loaded my purchases into the car, slammed down the trunk and stuffed myself in.

It was early June, so summer hadn't quite found its foothold, but it was hot enough that without air-conditioning I had to leave the windows down in order not to suffocate. I dropped my stuff off at my apartment and decided to go check on Bob.

Bob is a dog who belongs to my on-again, off-again boyfriend Joe Morelli. Morelli and I had been on-again for about a month now and things were…comfortable, at best. He was still vying for marriage, I was still vehemently refusing. He still wanted me to get a job at the button factory, I had no passion for little plastic circles. I hated to say it, but I'd liked him better when we were off-again. Even the sex was somehow lacking lately.

I pulled up in front of his house around 4:30 and cut the engine. His truck was parked at the curb. I straightened my blouse, tried and failed to tame my windblown hair and headed up the walk.

The door opened on the third knock and Bob came barreling out. He detoured around me in favor of the tree in Morelli's front yard, peed for about 3 minutes and barreled back into the house. Morelli stepped back and let me in.

"Hey, cupcake."

"Joe." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. He grabbed my arm, pulled me in and planted a real kiss on my mouth. I think my toes went numb. When we pulled apart, he was smiling that _you-thinking-what-I'm-thinking?_ smile. I was, but my uterus was telling a different story.

"Not a good time," I said.

His grin grew wider. "There is no bad time."

I rolled my eyes and moved past him. "You disgust me."

"It's a natural thing," he chuckled, following me into the kitchen.

"Two natural things," I said. "Sex and menstruation. Put them together, not natural at all."

The word menstruation seemed to do the trick. Morelli stayed across the room from me after that.

"How was your day?" I asked, after he'd handed me a coke.

"Same old, same old. Dead body in a dumpster. No leads on the Cuccini case. How 'bout you?"

"I watched an X-files marathon with Mooner this morning, then brought him in to reschedule this afternoon." Mooner was a safe topic. Mooner was one of the few skips I had that didn't give Morelli indigestion. "Then, I went shopping with Lula."

"That's great, cupcake." He walked into the living room and flicked on the TV Once he'd found the game I figured it was as good a time as any to mention Ranger.

"I'm doing a job for Ranger tomorrow night," I said as naturally as possible.

"That's great, cupcake." I sighed and made to slip out of the room, his voice called me back. "Did you say Ranger?"

I slunk back into the room and regarded him with a smile.

"Mmm hmm." I turned to leave again.

"Hold it." He muted the TV – never a good sign – and turned towards me. "You know how I feel about Ranger, cupcake. I don't like you spending time with him."

"It's a job, Joe."

"Is it?" He asked, rising from his seat. "Is it just a job?"

I sighed. "Of course."

"Stephanie, he's a dangerous man."

I was so not having this conversation again. Ranger might be dangerous to other people, but he wasn't dangerous to me – unless, of course, you counted the danger to my sanity – and I wasn't going to argue that point to Morelli for the hundredth time.

"I've got to go," I said quietly. He stepped towards me and grabbed my arm gently.

"Stephanie, just because you run away, doesn't mean this conversation is over."

"Wrong," I said, pulling out of his grasp. "This conversation is very over." With that, I spun and grabbed my purse off of the hall table then walked to the door. "I'll talk to you later," I called over my shoulder, "maybe."

I was so distracted after leaving Morelli's that I didn't even notice where I was going until I was parked in front of my parents' house. Oh well, I sighed. Might as well go in and mooch dinner.

Grandma Mazur opened the door as I walked up the steps.

"Oh, good, I'm glad you're here," she said, stepping back to let me in. "I've got to tell you all about my personal ad."

"Personal ad?" I asked, walking past her and into the kitchen. My mom was at the ironing board, a pile of perfectly pressed curtains next to her.

"I'm going to meet me a hunk a' lovin'."

I turned around and blinked at her. It shouldn't really be all that shocking, I thought grimly. Grandma Mazur's one goal in life seemed to be finding a replacement for her late husband. Why should a personal ad be surprising?

"That's great, grandma," I said, patting her on her bony shoulder. "Any replies yet?"

She squinted down at the tile floor for a moment, then her eyes rose back to mine. "Well, no, but Linda Reid says that all the good ones are a bit shy. They'll come around eventually."

I smiled gently and shook my head side to side. "Of course."

My mother finally glanced up from her ironing, her eyes a little wide.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "There aren't crazy people waiting for you in your apartment again, are there?"

I sighed. The awful thing was, her statement wasn't so off-the-wall. Crazy people were often to be found in my apartment. Especially crazy, dangerous people.

"No," I said. "I just stopped by for dinner."

She seemed to think about that for a moment, then nodded.

"You have to do something about your grandmother. What will people think that a woman of her age—" she peeked over at grandma as if the older woman couldn't hear a word we were saying, "—is looking for a man? In a _personal ad_!" She gasped.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Grandma Mazur.

"I think it's great, Grandma. You deserve to find someone special." Okay, so partly I said this to aggravate my mother, but Grandma Mazur really did deserve to have someone.

She smiled up at me, her teeth wobbling in her mouth, then her eyes slid to my mother.

"See, Helen, I told you Stephanie would think it was a great idea."

My mother looked up at me and narrowed her eyes. The look said, clear as day, 'no dessert for a week'.

Uh oh.

* * *

After dinner I agreed to take grandma to a viewing, mostly because my mother's head looked like it was going to explode if she had to deal with grandma anymore and I figured I owed her a favor after she set aside my treason and gave me dessert anyway. The funeral parlor was filling up when we got there. We were five minutes later than what Grandma had wanted, but what can I say? It would take a much stronger person than Grandma Mazur to pull me away from chocolate cake.

"Ohhh," Grandma squealed. "Look, it's an open casket. I'm going to go take a look."

"Don't touch anything," I begged her, and then watched as she pushed her way to the front. Open caskets were like exceptionally good birthday presents to Grandma Mazur: worthy of much excitement and necessitating closer inspection.

I glanced around, recognizing a few people, and spotted Johnny Douglas. Douglas was the one FTA still in my folder at the moment. He had been arrested for DUI and vehicular manslaughter. He'd been driving drunk one night and hit a homeless guy over near Stark.

Douglas spotted me, his eyes widened and he dashed for the door. I was after him in a second, but he had a good head start, so he was almost to the door already. I hauled ass, pushing my way between distraught patrons, shouting apologies over my shoulder.

I reached the street in time to see Douglas hop into a late model Ford truck and pull away from the curb. I crammed myself into the Geo and took off after him.

He took a left, then a right and soon we were on the freeway with three cars between us. He exited and I followed. At the red light, I jumped out of my car and ran up the line. I was almost to the truck when the light changed and he gunned it across the intersection. Traffic slowed and I was almost to my car, thinking that I might just be able to catch him when a silver Volvo came out of nowhere and rammed right into my little car. I faltered and stood gaping as the Volvo disentangled itself, took off down the breakdown lane and disappeared around the corner. I looked back for Douglas's truck but he was gone. I sighed and threaded my way between cars to the curb. What a night.

I called my dad to pick up Grandma at the funeral home. The great thing about my dad is that he doesn't ask questions. I had no such illusions about my mom. She'd be hounding me for a week about this.

After that, I simply waited. I didn't have to wait long for the blue-and-whites. Carl Costanza and Big Dog spotted me on the curb when they pulled up. Costanza smiled and turned to Big Dog who took a five from his wallet and handed it over with a frown.

"Betting on me again?" I asked.

Costanza laughed. "We never stopped, honey."

Morelli arrived shortly after that. I mentally prepared myself for the scolding.

His eyes were dark when he approached me. A muscle ticked in his jaw. The Italian temper was in full swing. Too bad I was in no mood for a fight.

"I'm afraid to ask," he said.

"It was an accident," I said.

I saw a shiny black car glide to a stop across the street. The only person I knew who drove a car that black and shiny and expensive was Ranger. The tingling I felt on the back of my neck supported this theory. The window rolled down, and he speared me with a glance from where he sat. Butterflies took up residence in my stomach and I'm pretty sure my nipples hardened. I managed a weak smile and he nodded once, rolled up the window and drove away.

Morelli turned his eyes from my wreck of a car back to me. "It's never just an accident, Steph. It's a demented boxer or a giant rabbit or a street gang, but it's never just an accident."

He turned to watch as they loaded what was left of my car onto a flatbed. "Christ, Steph," he sighed. "Don't you care what people think? Why do you keep doing this to me?"

I spun to glare at him. "To you?" I said. "What am I doing to you? I'm the one with the squashed car."

He shook his head. "You need a ride home?"

"No," I said. "Someone's coming." It was a lie, but I didn't think I could stand to be in an enclosed space with Morelli right now.

He nodded, kissed me lightly on the cheek, and left.

Costanza came over when they were done. He looked down at me sitting on the curb and smiled.

"You want a ride?" He asked.

I nodded and took the hand he offered to pull me up.

The whole ride home I sat in the back of the cruiser and contemplated my life. I had no car, my skip had gotten away, my boyfriend thought that I was Calamity Jane, and Batman was expecting me at the hotel tomorrow dressed as a sophisticated slut. What had my life come to?

Costanza rolled to a stop in front of my building. He offered to walk me up, but I told him I'd be fine and got out of the car.

I took the elevator to the second floor, too pooped to care about exercise. There were no crazy people waiting in my apartment, so I took a shower, made a bowl of popcorn, and plopped onto the couch. Honestly, I'm not even sure what I was watching, because I couldn't get the look on Morelli's face when he'd rolled up tonight out of my mind. He'd been beyond annoyed, beyond angry even, he'd been resigned, almost uncaring. He'd been more concerned with his reputation as the boyfriend of a crazy mess than he had been about my safety or the fact that I no longer had a car.

I sighed. I couldn't really blame Joe for wanting a normal girlfriend. I just wished he could accept me the way I was because, truth be told, I couldn't see myself changing anytime soon. I didn't want to be a Burg wife. I didn't want a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. I couldn't even keep track of my hamster half the time. What I wanted right now was a little excitement. Okay, so maybe not as much excitement as was usually present in my life, but not housekeeping and cooking and PTA meetings.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture the rest of my life; Morelli, kids, Bob, Aunt Rose's house, nice job at the button factory. Problem was, what would Ranger do at a button factory? My eyes snapped open. Now, where had that come from? I took a few deep breaths to stop from hyperventilating. I closed my eyes and tried to picture my future again, this time sans the man in black. I couldn't do it.

I got up and grabbed the last beer from the refrigerator and went back to the living room. I popped Ghostbusters into the VCR and sat back on the couch. No more thinking tonight. Thinking was dangerous. Thinking might make me reexamine my life. Thinking would get me into trouble.


	2. Distracted

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: I'm back already! I've actually got quite a bit of this written already, so I should be posting pretty regularly. Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. More fun in this one! A stalker, a distraction, and plenty of Ghetto Ranger, yum!

* * *

The phone woke me at 7 am. I was still on the couch, there was a pile of popcorn in my lap and an empty beer bottle lying on the floor. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. I took a short moment to ponder this phenomenon. Huh.

The phone stopped ringing and the machine picked up. "How's your car?" A voice said, a voice I didn't recognize. "It's a very good thing you weren't in it, don't you think? _He _wouldn't have been happy if you had been. Or would he? It would have been an easy out…if you'd died. No hurt feelings, no explanations, no more Stephanie to complicate his life."

I walked out to the kitchen and stared down at the answering machine, the message light was now blinking like some bright red omen: disaster to come. A concerned passerby? Somehow I didn't think so. I saved the message, knowing from past experience that it could come in handy.

My morning off to such a grand start, I decided I might as well take a shower and go down to the office. When creepy voices started showing up on my answering machine, I like to distract myself with work and Boston crèmes.

I had dad pick me up and stop at the bakery on the way to the office. We got a dozen donuts and ate two each before we were out of the parking lot.

Connie and Lula were filing when I got there, their nails that is. They looked up as I entered.

"You here early, white girl," Lula said, eyeing the donut box. I set it down on Connie's desk and fell onto the couch in front of the window.

"Just thought I'd get an early start," I said.

"Since when you get an early start?" Connie asked.

Since I'm pretty sure I've got some new creepy stalker and I didn't want to sit alone in my apartment, I thought.

"Since today." I shrugged.

Lula nodded like that made sense. Connie watched me for a moment before returning to her filing.

"I ran into Johnny Douglas last night at the funeral home," I said.

"He dead?" Lula asked.

I shook my head. "He was among the living. I chased him down to Broad, but I lost him at the light. He was driving a green Ford truck."

"That sucks, girl."

I nodded.

"We gonna go catch him today?" Lula asked.

I thought about it, I didn't really want to deal with Douglas right now. The guy was a friggin' lunatic. Besides, he'd probably laugh at me about my car getting smashed.

I turned to Connie. "Anything new?"

* * *

By three o'clock I was ready to call it quits. Lula and I had hauled in Bernie Schafer, arrested on a drunk and disorderly. My favorite kind of skip, catch them in the morning and they're usually so hung-over they just fall right into the back of your car. Bernie was no exception.

In the afternoon, we went after Donna Dernon. Everything just went downhill from there. Donna had been arrested on robbery charges. The drugstore on Main had been relieved of some merchandise, her fingerprints had been found on the empty shelves. Everyone was pretty sure that she'd been covering for her loser boyfriend Charlie, but no one could prove it. Apparently the security cameras had been out of order the night of the crime.

Seemed Chuck was willing to repay the favor. He met Lula and I at the door. With his .45. Needless to say, Donna was gonna spend a few more days as a free woman.

We rounded the day off by chasing 72-year-old Mr. Feester through the back alleys of Trenton. By 3 o'clock Mr. Feester was nowhere to be seen and I couldn't have distinguished between my sneakers and the heap of rotten garbage I was standing in if my life depended on it.

"I say we call it a day, girl," Lula said, wrinkling her nose against the odor. "That old man be halfway to New Hampshire by now."

I rolled my eyes and yanked my feet out of the garbage. "Let's go."

"Um, well, you know, no offense girl but I just had my car detailed and well…"

I glared up at her. "You are _not_ leaving me stranded here."

She seemed to think that over. "Well, maybe if you took off those nasty ass shoes."

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to scream. I left my shoes and socks with the pile of garbage and rolled my jeans up to my knees.

"Better?" I asked Lula.

"Much," she said. "Let's go."

Lula dropped me off at my apartment and I made my way upstairs barefoot. I unlocked the door and felt a familiar tingle on the back of my neck. Ranger was waiting for me on the couch.

"Babe," he said, his lips tipping up at the corners. To anyone else, Ranger would have looked pretty emotionless, but I knew him fairly well. Ranger was amused.

"Don't say anything," I shot at him as I made my way past to the bathroom.

"No shoes, babe?"

I glared. "What do you want?"

His eyes crinkled and he stood smoothly and moved towards me. "Just wanted to make sure you were set for tonight."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm good," I told him. "Are you picking me up?"

He smiled, then leaned forward and whispered a kiss across my forehead. "I'll be here around eight."

I nodded against his lips. "I'll be ready."

He turned to leave. "Have a nice shower, babe," he said over his shoulder, and then he was gone.

Nice shower, yeah right. Really long shower was more like it. Shower massage, here I come.

* * *

The message light on my answering machine was blinking when I got out of the shower. I hit play and headed back to the bathroom to do my hair. Great thing about a small apartment, you can hear your messages from just about any room in the house. The first one was from my mother reminding me about dinner tonight (guess I'd have to skip that one – tragic), and then one from Mary Lou telling me that she'd seen Joyce Barnhardt at the Sleep-E-Hollow Motel with Benny Donato. I called Mary Lou back and gossiped for an hour or so.

By the time I got off the phone it was 6:30 so I made a peanut butter and olive sandwich and ate it standing at the sink, then headed to the bathroom to finish the hair thing, keeping it simple, long curls pulled back from my face with a clip. I put on lip gloss and a couple of layers of mascara for courage, then headed to the bedroom.

I was pretty proud of my new outfit. The black pencil skirt fit like a second skin, but went down to my knees, so it couldn't really be considered skanky. The white blouse was tight and short sleeved and accentuated what little cleavage I had so long as I left a few buttons undone. I finished off with the red FMP's and had to admit that I looked smokin'. Batman, eat your heart out.

The locks tumbled at 7:56 and Ranger materialized as if out of nowhere in my kitchen. I stepped out of the bedroom and waited for his reaction.

I wasn't disappointed. His eyes darkened and a muscle clenched in his jaw.

"Babe," he said with that hint of a smile. I smiled back and did a little twirl.

"Sexy sophisticated?" I asked.

"Sexy something," he replied, moving across the room to stand a few inches in front of me. He brought a hand up and traced the skin along my collar. I tried very hard not to shiver, really I did. He smiled all 200 watts and I'm pretty sure I moaned.

"Let's get you wired up," he murmured. I knew if he touched me now I'd orgasm on the spot. But I wasn't single and the Morelli-guilt was enough to have me stepping back.

"I'll do it," I said, holding out my hand.

He shook his head slowly, smirk firmly in place. "I don't think so, Babe. This is expensive equipment. Best if I handle it." With that, he pushed my shirt slowly up to just under my breast and rested his hand there. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on breathing. I could feel his thumb stroking up and down my stomach as he taped the wire just below my left breast. Then my shirt was back in place and I struggled to open my eyes.

"Babe?"

I nodded quickly and made some kind of a sound, although I'm not sure it was intelligible. He chuckled and moved away.

"Let's go, babe. The guys are waiting."

Right, I thought. Wouldn't want to keep the guys waiting. Who cares if I was so close to an orgasm I was trembling? I nodded again and followed Ranger out into the hall, trying to ignore the way my legs barely held me up.

* * *

"This distraction's a little different, babe," Ranger told me once we were cocooned in the Turbo.

"How so?" I asked, peering over at him by the light of the dashboard.

"Guys not exactly a skip," he said. He kept his eyes carefully focused out the windshield.

I stared at him. "Not a skip?" I asked, probably a bit too loudly. "Then who the hell is he?"

Ranger finally turned to look at me, his eyes dark. "He's a guy I need some information from."

"But you said he was arrested for rape and assault," I pointed out. Ranger had never lied to me. I wasn't too excited about the prospect of him starting now.

"He was. I never say he's FTA. Not yet anyway. He works for a guy who about to start some real bad shit, Steph. I need some info so I can stop it from going down." Ghetto Ranger, kinda hot. I had been trying lately to determine what exactly was the catalyst in bringing out Ghetto Ranger. So far, I hadn't found anything. As far as I could tell, Ghetto Ranger just kind of popped up every once in awhile for no good reason. I hadn't totally shelved my theory that Ranger did it on purpose to amuse me.

I took a moment to absorb what he'd told me. The bad guy wasn't FTA, Ranger just needed him to inform on another bad guy. Right. But Batman had ways of gaining information. Ways I wasn't sure I wanted to know anything about. What the hell did he need me for?

Ranger's almost-smile peeked out from behind his blank mask. Damn ESP.

"I'll be extracting the information, Babe. I just need you to lure him up to one of the rooms."

I blinked a few times. "A _room_?" Shit. Crazy, psycho rapist plus hotel room equals…not good.

Ranger must have read my mind again, because a moment later his hand was on my arm and he was speaking in a low voice. "It'll be fine, babe. Tank and I will be waiting for you in the room. You won't be alone with this guy for more than a few seconds."

I stared silently up at him as his hand rubbed lightly up and down my arm. I shivered and his lips tipped up again.

"Sure," I said, pulling away from his touch. Being so close to him was seriously messing with my head, not to mention my hormones. Ranger watched me for a moment, but I turned away from him, looking out my window. He turned the key in the ignition, shifted into gear and pulled out of my lot.

* * *

"Bobby's behind the bar," Ranger said as we pulled up in front of the Marriot. "Lester's circling inside. Cal's got the back. Tank and I will be upstairs. Everyone's got ears on you." I nodded and tried to calm the butterflies in my stomach. This wasn't my first distraction job, and I knew that I was safe with Ranger and all of his men lurking about, but I always got a little nervous just before I went in.

"You've got this, babe," Ranger said softly, a hand on my knee. "You'll do great."

Somehow that little bit of reassurance was all I needed. I squeezed his hand and opened my door to get out. He watched me enter the building, and then probably went around back to find some secret entrance and head up to the room.

The bar was just off the lobby, to the left. I spotted Bobby as soon as I entered. He grinned and tipped his head to the right. I turned and spotted Lester nursing what I was sure was some kind of non-alcoholic beverage. Ranger wouldn't allow drinking on the job. Lester winked at me.

Our man was sitting at the bar holding a beer. Edwin Mortars was not what I had expected. He was surprisingly attractive. I took a seat two stools to his left and surveyed him. It wasn't hard to fake the way my eyes slid over him in appreciation. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, I thought. A small voice in the back of my mind reminded me that this guy was a creepy abusive rapist. I suppressed a shudder.

Mortars was a tall guy. Not as tall as Ranger or Morelli, but tall enough. He had dark hair that fell over his ears. When he turned towards me, I saw that his eyes were a striking shade of green. He smiled and a dimple appeared in one cheek. If this guy wasn't so goddamn creepy, we might have had something. I slid over one stool, leaving one between us. Good old Edwin slid onto the empty stool.

"You like what you see?" He murmured, conducting his own appraisal. His eyes started at my throat, lingering on my meager cleavage before traveling the length of me. They froze momentarily on my hot new FMP's.

"Mmmm," I hummed, taking a sip from the drink Bobby had set down in front of me. Virgin margarita. Ugh.

"Not so bad yourself, sweetlips." His hand brushed my thigh and I had to grit my teeth to keep from jumping away. "You from around here?"

"No," I said and named the next county over. "How about you?"

His head tipped to the side as if he were considering his answer. "I grew up in Trenton," he said. "I went away to college. Decided to come back a few years ago."

"Missed your family?" I asked.

He laughed softly. "No, more of a…business venture, you might say."

Business venture, my ass.

His eyes slid once more down my legs, then back up to my face. "You wanna get out of here?" He asked.

I smiled up at him through my lashes. "I've got a room…if you're interested." This was too easy, too goddamn easy.

"Sure," he said, standing and offering me a hand.

We were at the elevator before I had time to think. Ranger had told me to avoid the elevator. Take the stairs, he'd told me. Less alone time. Lester and Bobby could follow on the stairs. The room was only on the third floor. It wasn't unreasonable. For once in my life, I was willing to take Ranger's advice about the stairs. Unfortunately, Edwin Mortars was not.

"Let's just take the elevator, sweetlips. It'll be quicker."

I glanced up at the display, blinking from 5 to 4.

"It's still a few floors up," I said. "My room's on three. The stairs will be quicker." As I spoke the light flashed from 4 to 3 to 2. Stop godamnit.

"Look," he said. "It's almost here."

With that, he pulled me into a tight embrace and pressed his lips to mine. I think I threw up a little in my mouth. The doors dinged open and Mortars maneuvered us into the elevator, never removing his lips from mine. I pushed futilely at his chest, but he just chuckled and pulled me closer, then his tongue was in my mouth and the doors slid shut.

"Oh, God," he groaned when he pulled away. "You make me so goddamned hard." He illustrated the point my pressing his, not exactly impressive, length into my stomach. I smiled in what I hoped was a beguiling manner.

"You make me pretty hot, too," I purred. His lips crashed down on mine. Perhaps I shouldn't have encouraged him. With one eye I watched the number display as the car inched slowly towards three. Somewhere between two and three, Mortars reached over and pressed the emergency stop button.

"I can't wait," he ground out as he started to unbutton his pants. I gasped. This had not been a part of the plan. I mean, yeah, the guy was cute, but there was no way I was letting him bang me in an elevator. There were just some things I wouldn't do to get the job done. Whoring was one of them.

"C'mon baby, we're almost to my room. Just a few more minutes and we can do this in a bed," I said, stilling his hands on his zipper.

"Aw, come on, sweetlips, I haven't done it against a wall in a long time," he growled. "You have no idea how fucking hard I am."

"Oh," I chuckled. "I think I do." The proof was digging uncomfortably into my abdomen. "But…I've got a bad…back. Yeah, you know, I can't really do it against a wall. Just get us upstairs and we can stay in bed all night long." I drew the last part into a whisper as I leaned around him and flicked the emergency switch off. Mortars growled and pulled me closer.

The doors opened on three to reveal an empty hallway. No doubt Ranger's doing. If anyone had been lurking, Ranger would have seen to it that they got lost. He wouldn't want anything interfering with this job.

I managed to maneuver Mortars down the hall to number 315, his tongue rammed down my throat the entire time. I managed to pull away in order to place the key card in the slot and push the door open. At first glance, the room appeared to be empty and my heart turned to ice. Ranger had lied to me. I was here, alone with this creep and he was…

Mortars stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. At almost the same moment, Tank and Ranger stepped out of the bathroom and the bedroom, respectively. Tank's gun was aimed straight at Mortars. Mortars reacted more quickly than I guess any of us expected. He grabbed me around the waist and hauled me in front of him, placing me firmly between him and Tank.

"Oh!" I gasped. Surprised indignation seemed to be the best way to go. Probably letting on to the fact that I was a part of this setup wouldn't be helpful.

Clearly, Mortars had already come to his own conclusions.

I felt cold metal against my throat and Ranger's eyes hardened to black steel.

"Put down the gun or I slit her throat," Mortars ground out, his chest vibrating against my back.

Then Ranger did the last thing I would have expected. He laughed.

"You think we care? Who the fuck is she? Some whore we paid to lure you up here. Go ahead and kill her."

I stared wide-eyed between Ranger and Tank. Ranger maintained the sick smile, while Tank's face was stuck in unreadable, army-guy mode. Mortars twitched behind me.

"Yeah, right, like I'm supposed to believe that."

Ranger shrugged. "Tank," he said, making some kind of motion towards the larger man. "Maybe we'll get lucky and the bullet will go right through into Mortar's heart."

Tank raised his gun and I squinched my eyes closed, knowing that Ranger would never let anyone shoot me, hoping that he knew what the hell he was doing.

"Woah, woah, hold on now, let's talk about this," Mortars said in a rush. "It doesn't got to be like that. Tell me what you guys want."

Ranger smiled his sick, fake smile again. "We just want to talk, Eddie."

I felt Mortars slowly inching us towards the door, felt him nod. Then suddenly he was slumping against me, the knife pressed into my throat. Then I was free and I spun to see Lester standing over Mortars wearing a silly grin and holding a stun gun.

"Dumb bastard never heard us coming," he said.

Bobby stepped around him and picked up the knife. The blade had a thin line of red on it. My head started spinning and I saw stars.

"Babe," came Ranger's voice as his arms came around my waist, supporting me as my knees gave out. "C'mere. Let Bobby check out your neck."

He lowered me to the couch, coming around to kneel in front of me. His large, warm hands enveloped mine and squeezed.

"Breathe, babe." I took a deep breath and focused my eyes back on his face. He looked…concerned…and something else, but Bobby was touching my neck gently and I couldn't figure out what.

"Just a shallow scrape," Bobby announced. "Les, get me some water, some paper towel, and a band-aid if you can find one."

Lester was back a few moments later and Bobby cleaned and bandaged my wound.

"You okay, babe?" Ranger asked softly. I nodded.

"Just…the blood, you know."

He looked like he was thinking about smiling. "I know."

There was a moan from the other side of the room and everyone turned to see Mortars coming around. Tank had cuffed him to the radiator.

Ranger stood and suddenly he was all business. He motioned to Lester.

"You and Bobby get Steph out of here."

Lester nodded and reached down to pull me off the couch. He kept one arm around my waist as he led me to the door. Ranger looked like he might want to protest, but he peered into my, probably pale, face and seemed to think better.

He called out as Bobby opened the door to the hall.

"Get her home safe. Check out her apartment. Don't leave until she locks the door."

Bobby nodded.

Les muttered, "Sure thing, man."

I gave Ranger my 'Burg girl eye roll. "Will you call me later?" I asked. His face was blank. "Just so I know how everything turned out," I clarified. Just so I know you're okay. I kept that thought to myself.

He nodded once. "Sure, babe. Later."

I nodded back and followed Bobby out of the room.

* * *

A/N: Don't forget to let me know what you thought!


	3. Stalked

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who's reading and reviewing! You guys are awesome. I'm glad you all appreciated Ghetto Ranger ;) We'll be seeing a lot more of him before the story's over. I should probably also warn you that from here on out, this story will NOT be Cupcake friendly. I don't have anything against Joe, really, it's just how the story happens to be unrolling. Enjoy!

* * *

I must have fallen asleep shortly after the boys bundled me into the Explorer, because I woke to hear them arguing about how to get me into my apartment. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to still be out. This could be interesting.

"Should I carry her?" Bobby was asking from somewhere very nearby.

Lester snorted. "Well, shit, man, don't wake her up."

Bobby hesitated before answering. "It's just…you know how the boss gets about people touching his woman."

_His_ woman? Why did that phrase make me feel all warm inside when it should have been igniting my Italian temper? For some reason, the idea of belonging to Batman didn't bring about any feminist rebuttals. No, it was actually rather…exciting.

Lester's laughter nearly startled me into opening my eyes. "B, man, I'm pretty sure Ranger'd understand under the circumstances." He laughed some more.

"Well, if you're so sure, you carry her then," Bobby said.

Les was quiet for a moment. "Shit. Fine, but if he asks, she woke up and asked us to carry her."

It was too much. I could barely hold back the laughter. "Guys," I said quietly, my voice thick with sleep. "Guys, it's okay, I'm awake." I blinked my eyes open and stared up into Bobby's hazel eyes. He looked almost afraid. Lester was behind him, eyebrows drawn down in the middle. "It's okay, guys, I can walk."

"You sure, bombshell, I mean one of us could…" Lester began.

I cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute."

In the end, Lester kept one arm firmly around me as we made our way through the lobby, up the elevator – clearly they were taking pity on me – and to my apartment door. He probably thought that if he let go, I'd fall over in exhaustion. I had to admit, I was feeling rather weary.

Les took my keys and unlocked the door, then stood back while Bobby searched the apartment.

"All clear, bomber, no crazy psychos tonight."

Not yet, I thought silently. But it's only a matter of time.

"Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it," I said, pulling away from Lester.

Bobby stepped around me and headed for the bathroom. "Let me put some antibiotic ointment on your neck, bomber. Wouldn't want it to get infected."

I sighed and sat down on the couch. All I really wanted was to be alone so I could eat a few Tastycakes, wait for Ranger to call, and go to bed.

Bobby came out of the bathroom with a washcloth, the ointment, and a new bandaid. I let him clean and re-bandage my cut with minimum complaint, Lester looking on with an infuriating smirk.

"Only you, bombshell," he said. I rolled my eyes.

When Bobby was finished, he cleaned up then dragged Lester to the door. "We'll go now," he said. "I'm sure you want to relax."

I nodded and bid them goodnight.

Lester popped his head back in just as he was about to close the door.

"Lock the door, beautiful. And try not to let in any boogiemen." He laughed softly and pulled the door shut. I locked the door and looked out the peep-hole to see Lester wave, then walk away towards the stairs.

I grabbed the last Butterscotch Krimpet from the cupboard and plopped down in front of the couch. I turned on 'What Not to Wear'. That Stacey and Clinton really crack me up. If I didn't think it would bring out super rhino mode, I'd nominate Lula for this show. America would get a kick out of that. I ate my snack, snuggled in under my blue fleece throw and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

I'm not sure what woke me. I'm too honest with myself to pretend that it was the almost silent tumbling of the locks. I was getting better, but I wasn't _that_ aware of my surroundings. I figured there was really no point in getting up, seeing as my gun was in the kitchen and probably not loaded anyway. Any psycho who wanted me dead could definitely do it before I got to the kitchen and managed to load my gun. Besides, I was fairly certain it was Ranger, so I relaxed into the couch and waited for the familiar tingling.

It didn't come.

The door swung open, then closed. Footsteps made their way through the entryway and into the kitchen. No tingle. I began to panic. Should I make a break for the bedroom window? Should I hide in the bathroom and lock the door? Probably pointless since this guy was obviously pretty good with locks.

I listened as the footsteps passed through the kitchen, then a dark figure filled the doorway into the living room. A _large_, dark figure. Crap.

"Cupcake?"

I let out the breath I'd been holding and swore under my breath. Then some more out loud.

"Shit, Joe, what the fuck are you doing? You scared the hell out of me. What time is it?"

Joe stepped into the room and I could make out his profile in the light from the TV. He was wearing his cop face.

"It's a little after eleven, and I came to make sure Manoso didn't get you killed on his little clusterfuck tonight. 'Course I'm not sure why I came _here_, he'd probably just hide the body and tell everyone you left town."

I rolled my eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh. "Joe, I'm fine. And Ranger wouldn't have hid the body. He probably would have called you then disappeared."

Joe grunted and sat down next to me on the couch. "If that guy got you killed there wouldn't be anywhere for him to hide," he growled. That got my attention.

"Are you saying that you would kill Ranger if one of his skips got the better of me? It wouldn't be his fault."

Morelli's laugh vibrated the couch. "It would be _all_ his fault, cupcake. He's the one who gets you into these situations."

I narrowed my eyes. "What situations, Joe? I hope you don't mean all the cars exploding and getting shot at and having crazy stalkers, because those are all me, Joe."

"Because of your stupid job," he exclaimed. "If you'd just quit like I want you to, these things wouldn't happen."

"What things, Joe? What's happened?" I asked, jumping up from the couch to stand in front of him. "Nothing happened tonight. I'm fine."

"Oh yeah?" Joe said, standing up, too. I took an automatic step back from him. "Well, then what the hell is this?" He asked. His fingers came up and touched the bandage on my throat. My hand flew to it automatically.

"It's…nothing," I told him. "Just a scratch. Mary Lou's cat doesn't like being petted."

"Mary Lou's cat?" Joe yelled. "Stephanie, Mary Lou's cat ran away! A year and a half ago!"

Shit. I'd forgotten about that.

"It's nothing, Joe. I'm fine."

"It's a fucking hickey, isn't it?" Joe demanded. "Fucking Manoso branded you and you're trying to pass it off as a cut. Take off the bandaid, Stephanie."

I stared at him. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not. If it's not a hickey, then take off the damn bandaid."

"I don't have anything to prove to you," I yelled. "There's nothing going on between Ranger and I."

"Then show me!"

"Get out," I hissed. "If you don't believe me, then get the hell out, Morelli."

Morelli pulled in a tight breath and nodded once. "Fine." He turned and headed for the door.

"I trusted all of your 'business meetings' with Gilman," I shouted after his retreating form. "Why can't you trust me with this?"

"Because it's fucking Manoso," he said at the door. "I'll call you tomorrow to discuss this."

"Don't bother," I muttered just before I heard the door click shut and the locks fall into place.

I fell back onto the couch with tears pricking the backs of my eyes. They were tears of anger. I was pretty sure it was over, and I was surprisingly un-upset about it.

* * *

I woke again to pitch black. The display on my TV said that it was 2:15. The tingling on my neck told me that I wasn't alone.

"Ranger?" I called into the darkness. There was no reply. I pulled myself into a sitting position and flicked on the lamp beside the sofa. I was alone. "Ranger?" I called again.

I walked into the bedroom and flipped on a light, then did the same in the kitchen and bathroom. The apartment was empty. I checked the locks on the door and found them intact, as were those on my bedroom window. This was weird. Maybe I'd imagined the tingling. Maybe it was leftover tingling from the dream I'd been having. I shut off all the lights, crawled into bed and forced myself back into dream land.

The sun was shining through my window when I woke up again. My head felt like it weighed about eight hundred pounds. A yelling match at 11:30 at night, followed by a short crying jag, would do that to you, apparently.

I dragged myself out of bed and did the shower and hair thing. I dressed in jeans and a stretchy blue t-shirt which did great things for my eyes, not to mention my breasts, and headed to the kitchen. Now, I thought, what to eat for breakfast? I had half a box of stale Cheerios in the cabinet, but no milk. I threw a handful of Cheerios into Rex's cage and watched as he came out to collect them then scurried back into his soup can.

I was pretty sure I had a slice of cake left from dinner at my parents'. I opened the refrigerator and heard someone scream. Okay, so maybe I was the one doing the screaming. Staring back at me from the depths of my Frigidair was a head. A pig head, to be exact. He was staring at me with his beady black eyes and his big hairy snout and the room tipped around me. I managed to close the refrigerator and stumble to the counter where my cell phone was lying. I tried to think about who I should call but the face of that cold dead piggy was etched into my mind and I couldn't drag in enough oxygen to make my head stop spinning.

I hit speed dial one and slumped down to the floor to wait for an answer.

"Yo."

"Head," I gasped out. "In my fridge. All dead and cold and…"

"Babe, breathe," he said. I heard the squeal of tires and then the engine revving. "Now tell me what's wrong."

"There's a…there's a head in my fridge. I…I can't…" I couldn't breathe, that's what I couldn't do. Someone had killed a perfectly innocent little piggy and stuck his head in my fridge.

"Steph, I'm on my way, you need to breathe."

I took a deep breath and felt a little bit better.

"Babe, is there anyone still in your apartment?"

I shook my head. Oh, wait he can't see me. "No," I said.

"I'm going to hang up and call the cops, babe. I'll be there in two minutes. Just keep breathing." Then he hung up.

I sat on the floor, my back against the cabinets and focused on breathing. I was still breathing when my front door opened and Ranger stepped in. He went straight to the refrigerator and opened it. He took a quick step back and closed the door, turning to me. He crouched down in front of me and put his hands on my knees.

"Babe, that's a pig head."

I nodded.

"You didn't tell me it was a pig head."

I stared at him. I hadn't? What the hell difference did it make? So, it was a pig head. How was that any better than a person head?

Ranger squeezed my knees and bent forward to plant a kiss on my forehead.

"You okay, babe?"

I nodded. Now that Ranger was here, I was feeling much better. I might even be able to stand up.

My friend Eddie Gazarra walked in just as Ranger was helping me to my feet. He smiled at me, then turned to Ranger.

"Where is it?"

Ranger pointed to the fridge. He didn't mention the fact that the head wasn't human. Clearly Ranger was feeling playful.

"Holy shit!" Eddie exclaimed as soon as he'd opened the fridge. There were shouts from the hallway.

"You okay, Gazarra? What's going on?"

"You guys gotta see this," Eddie called back. Andy Zajack and Robin Russell trouped into the room and poked their heads into the refrigerator. "I don't think anyone bet on _this_."

"That's a pig head," Andy stated. We all stared at him. Way to state the obvious.

Morelli walked in two minutes later. Gazarra repeated the 'You gotta see this' gig and Joe took a peek in the fridge. He was laughing as he came over and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Only you, cupcake."

I glared at him. I would have shrugged his arm off my shoulders, but that would have caused gossip and I didn't need my mother on my ass right now.

"Do you have any idea who put it there?" Ranger asked.

I shook my head. Then I remembered the phone call from the night of my accident.

I played the tape for them.

"Shit, cupcake, another stalker?"

I glared at him. "It's not my fault, Joe. They just show up."

Ranger looked like he was thinking about smiling.

"Steph, why don't you go sit down on the couch for now. It might be awhile before we can get the forensics guys here," Eddie told me.

I nodded and was almost to the living room when the phone rang. I looked back and everyone was staring at me.

"Probably it's just my mother," I said. Yeah, sure, and I really was Wonder Woman.

"Answer it," Ranger instructed me. I narrowed my eyes at him, but obeyed.

"Yo." That gained an almost-smile from Ranger and a scowl from Morelli.

"Did you like my present?" A voice asked. The same voice from the creepy message. I put it on speaker phone.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. Play dumb, that was my plan. Get him to let something slip.

"Don't lie, Stephanie. I saw him arrive. Nice of him to make time in his _busy_ schedule to make sure you're okay." I glanced back at Ranger and Joe.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked the voice on the phone.

"Your man, Stephanie. I saw him leave last night. Why didn't he stay? Does it make you wonder?"

"I don't know who you're talking about," I said, keeping my eyes studiously fastened on the telephone.

"You deserve better, Stephanie." Then he hung up.

I turned back to find both Ranger and Morelli staring at me, blank faces firmly in place. This here is one of the downsides of loving two men. How was I supposed to know which of them this psycho was talking about? Yes, I was technically dating Joe, but it wouldn't be the first time someone had misjudged the relationship between Ranger and I.

"Um," I said. Real intelligent, Steph.

"This isn't about you," Ranger said to me. "He's concerned about _your man's_ actions." He turned to Morelli.

Joe glared at him. "Seems to me last year some psycho thought she was yours. How do we know he's not after you?"

All this talk of owning people was starting to get on my nerves. I stepped between them. Probably not the brightest move; the tension there was like a physical pressure.

"Well, it has to be Joe, right?" I said, trying to diffuse the situation. Eddie and Robin were watching us like a good soap opera. I'm pretty sure Andy was taking notes. "I mean, he was the only one here last night."

Ranger's nostrils flared almost imperceptibly.

"What?" I asked.

His eyes flicked from Morelli back to me. "I stopped by. You were asleep so I left."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Joe clench his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.

So Ranger _had_ been here. My bat-sensor wasn't offline after all. I took a deep breath.

"I'm not going to a safehouse."

Ranger's eyes widened fractionally. "Babe."

"I'm not, Ranger."

"Cupcake, you can't stay here, we don't know what this guy wants."

I rolled my eyes. "He thinks I'm too good for…one of you. Maybe he's just trying to warn me. I'll stay away from both of you for awhile and see what happens."

Joe gaped.

"Or he could be waiting for you to ditch us so he can have you for himself," Ranger said.

"He's right, Steph," Robin spoke for the first time. "He said you deserve better, maybe he thinks you deserve him."

"She'll stay with me," Joe stated. Well, if that didn't get my hackles up…

"No, I won't." I still hadn't forgotten our fight from last night.

"Cupcake."

"I'll stay with my parents," I said. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than giving in to Morelli or causing him to combust by going with Ranger.

"I'm putting a man on you," Ranger said, pulling out his cell phone.

"No. You're not."

His eyes narrowed.

"Listen, it's just a pig." A poor, cute, defenseless pig. "When he starts sending human body parts, then you can put the men on Steph-watch."

"Stephanie." Usually Ranger doesn't scare me, but he had his I'm-the-boss, mercenary face on and he'd called me Stephanie. I forced myself to stand my ground. I wouldn't admit it, but having a Merry Man watching my back 24/7 was exactly what I wanted right about now.

"Ranger, I'm fine. You don't need to bleed money over a pig head." This got his attention. He stiffened and for a moment it looked like he wanted to argue.

He nodded once and turned back to Morelli. "We both need to make lists of people we put away who got out recently."

Joe nodded.

"Or the family of people we recently put away."

"Or killed," Joe muttered. Ranger ignored him.

"I've got to go, Babe." He kissed me on the forehead while Joe looked on with narrowed eyes. "Call me if anything happens." Then he was gone.

I looked back at the assorted cops standing in my kitchen. Joe opened his mouth to speak.

"Not a word," I said, then went into my bedroom to pack.

* * *

A/N: No pigs were harmed in the making of this fic.

How's that for upping the ante? Let me know what you thought. Predictions, questions, and suggestions are also welcome, though I can't promise not to be evilly secretive about what will _actually_ happen.


	4. Possessed

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and for leaving me such amazing reviews! You guys are seriously the best fans ever! For anyone who noticed the transportation slip-up in ch. 2, it has now been fixed. Oh and FYI, school starts Wed. so updates won't be quite so frequent starting then. I hope you'll have patience with me! Enjoy!

* * *

An hour later, Lula picked me up in front of my apartment building. Joe had volunteered to drop me off at my parents' to pick up Big Blue, but two minutes later his pager had gone off and he'd had to leave. I wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or relieved. I was still mad at him for trying to tell me how to run my life, but did work really have to come first…always?

Lula and I drove straight to the bonds office, bass loud enough to make conversation impossible. I figured she'd want to hold off the interrogation until we were with Connie, anyway. I know I did; one explanation was more than enough.

We parked on the street and got out of the car.

"So, girl, what the hell's going on here?" Lula asked as we walked through the front door.

Connie stood as we entered.

"Christ, Steph, I heard about the pig in your fridge, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

The door to Vinnie's inner sanctum opened and the rat himself poked his head out. "Pig? What about a pig?" His beady rat eyes were narrowed in unconcealed interest.

"The pig was dead, you pervert," Connie yelled.

My cousin Vinnie had an unnatural attraction to animals. It was rumored that he had had relations with a duck…Yick.

"Yeah, you squirrel, now get your little head back in your office before I…"

Vinnie slammed the door before Lula could finish.

"Don't forget who signs your paychecks," he called from behind the door.

"I do!" Connie yelled.

We heard the lock click on Vinnie's door and heaved a collective sigh of relief.

"So, anyway, Steph who the hell would put a pig head in your fridge?" Connie asked.

I shrugged. I wasn't sure I wanted to get into the phone calls with them just yet. I still wasn't sure what they meant myself.

"Lula, want to go after Johnny Douglas today? I'd like to pay him back for the car chase the other day."

Lula seemed to think for a minute. "Sure, girl, but we're stopping at the bakery on the way. I need me some sugar. I'm feelin' weak already, just thinkin' about chasing that little turd Douglas."

* * *

We chased that little turd Douglas around his block for twenty minutes before Lula cut him off through someone's backyard and sat on him. If I hadn't been so out of breath, I'd have laughed my ass off. Once I caught my breath, we stuffed Douglas into the back seat of Lula's Firebird and hauled him to the pokey.

"Aw, c'mon, Steph, you're ruining the pool here. No garbage at all?" Big Dog asked when I went in to get my body receipt.

"Sorry guys. No blown up cars either."

There were a few loud groans.

"Yeah, but I won with the pig thing," Brian Simon said. "Said you'd have a run in with an animal. Guys figured that was close enough."

I glared at him. Simon had been Bob's owner before he'd pawned him off on me. Now, I love Bob – even more now that he's eating Morelli's couch instead of mine – but I was still pretty miffed with Simon for his scheming.

I grabbed my receipt from the cop-in-a-cage and turned to huff out the door.

"See ya later, Steph," Simon called after me.

I flipped him a nice Italian hand gesture over my shoulder.

Lula and her Firebird were gone by the time I got back to the parking lot. Lula has an allergy to police stations…well, to cops in general, really. As a result, I'm often abandoned there.

I whipped out my cell phone and dialed her number.

"Get your ass back here and pick me up."

"Well, girl, you see I'm kinda busy here filing. And besides that, I just bought me this here cheeseburger and I wouldn't want it to get cold. I got one here for you, too, when you get back."

"And how the hell am I supposed to do that?" I yelled into the phone.

There was low chuckling from behind me.

"Babe."

I spun around and glared up into Ranger's amused eyes.

"Forget it, Lula. My burger better still be there when I get back." Then I hung up.

"That stuff will kill you, babe."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Lula forget you again?"

"I can't believe I keep letting her do it. I should take the keys in with me," I said, my eyes taking in the sight of Ranger all decked out in black cargos, black painted on tee, and black combat boots. He was sporting one gun that I could see, probably another that I couldn't, and no doubt a knife or two. He looked absolutely delicious. "Yeah, that's what I should do."

His lips tipped up a fraction. "Babe. You need a ride?"

I nodded. "Why are you here?" I asked him.

"Checking on something for a Rangeman case."

"What's the case?"

Ranger smiled for real and put an arm around my shoulder. He was strong and warm and I wanted to melt into him. But the fact that we were at the cop shop reminded me of Morelli and that reminded me that I should be feeling guilty about cozy Ranger moments. I let out a long sigh.

"Deep thoughts, babe?"

I let him open the door to the Turbo and give me a gentle shove in.

"The deepest," I muttered.

Ranger shut the door and went around to climb in the driver's side.

"Where to, babe?"

I sighed. "Bonds office. I need to get another FTA today or I won't be eating this week."

Ranger gave me a wolf grin. "You know, you can always eat with me. I'm not sure how much food would be involved but…"

Heat shot straight to my doodah. "Oh boy."

Ranger just smiled and pulled out of the parking lot.

After a few moments of silence, Ranger broke out of his zone and flicked his eyes to me. "How are you doing, babe? I know that pig thing freaked you out this morning."

I took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm okay. At least it wasn't a human head."

That got me a fraction of a smile.

"How about last night? You okay with that?"

I glanced over at him. "Yeah." Why wouldn't I be?

"I hope I didn't scare you with my bluff." He looked over briefly and caught my eyes. "I wasn't expecting him to react that quickly. I figured I could get you out of the way before he got over the shock of us being there."

"I knew you wouldn't let Tank shoot me," I said. I trusted Ranger with my life; it was my heart I was supposed to be worried about.

Ranger chuckled, then his face grew more serious. "I'm just glad that knife wasn't much sharper." He reached over and touched my neck gently. I shivered.

Ranger looked over at me with a grin. "Cold, babe?"

I couldn't answer. I needed out of this car. If I was alone and in an enclosed space with Ranger for much longer, I might do something stupid…like start ripping off his clothes.

"Babe." Ranger chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and looked back out the windshield. "I'm fine, Ranger. Don't you worry about me."

He parked in front of the bonds office and I reached for the door handle. He stopped me with a hand on my knee.

"Be careful, babe. Please?"

I gulped in a breath and nodded. Ranger knew he had me when he said please. I couldn't resist that word coming out of his mouth.

He smiled and leaned in. I braced myself, but he just brushed his lips over mine once, twice softly, barely touching. A shiver rippled up my spine. Ranger chuckled gently and threw my door open.

"Call me, if you need anything," he said as I climbed carefully out of the car. I nodded again. I couldn't have gotten words out if I'd tried.

I shut the door and went into the office. Ranger watched me until the office door was closed, then pulled out into traffic.

_Call me, if you need anything_, he'd said. He hadn't specifically included Ben and Jerry's Phish Food or a Ranger induced orgasm, but then he hadn't specifically excluded them either. Something to think about. Later.

* * *

After my lunch of cold McDonald's, I convinced Lula to go back out with me to pick up Donna Dernon and Mr. Feester.

We arrived at Mr. Feester's small, one story house around 1. When he didn't answer his front door, we decided to let ourselves in.

"What?" Lula asked innocently after she'd broken the window next to the back door. "It was open." She reached through the opening and unlocked the door.

I rolled my eyes and followed her into the living room. Mr. Feester was out cold on the sofa. Nap time, I supposed. I managed to cuff him and we'd dragged him almost to the door before he woke up.

"Harrrrr…" He yelled. "What the fuck?"

Before I could react, Lula had her stun gun out and Mr. Feester was limp on the foyer floor.

"Shit," I said, staring down at the old man. "He better not be dead. You know how I hate dead people. What did I tell you about stunning senior citizens?"

Lula stared down at him for half a minute. "Naw, girl, see his little bony chest is still moving."

I looked down. Sure enough, Mr. Feester's chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Huh.

We half dragged, half carried the old guy to the curb and threw him into the back of the Firebird. I went back to lock up, then we booked it to the police station.

Lula pulled up to the back door and watched while two uniforms hauled Mr. Feester out of the car.

I looked over at her. "Really sorry, Lula." Then I reached over, grabbed the keys from of the ignition and jumped out of the car.

"Girl! You better…"

"Be right back," I called over my shoulder.

The Firebird was still there when I got back out. Lula, however, was conspicuously missing.

I looked from the empty car to the back door of the police station and back to the car. My cell phone rang.

"She took off just as I was pulling in. Ran off down the street like the hounds of hell were after her."

"Eddie?" I asked, looking around for him.

"In my office." I looked up at the third window from the right and Eddie waved out at me. I waved back.

"Ummm, thanks."

"Sure," he said, then hung up.

I hopped into the Firebird and drove out of the lot.

I spotted Lula two blocks down. She was standing beside the open hatch of a rusted out Toyota Civic talking to a black guy big enough to make Tank look small. She was holding a hot pink leather clutch in one hand and a lime green shoulder bag in the other.

"Girl, what the hell you thinkin' leavin' me back there like that?" She called out when I pulled up and got out of the car.

"Now you know how I feel."

"You ain't got no allergy to them cops," she said.

"No, but I've got an allergy to being left places without rides."

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "We all know Batman come get you whenever you ask," she said. "Besides, now you gone and forced me into retail therapy." She held up the bags. "Which one you like?"

I didn't want to admit it, but I didn't like either. I was saved answering by the big black salesman. He whipped out a gun and aimed it at Lula.

"I knew I recognized you. What the hell you doin' bringin' _his_ woman here?" He said, his eyes flickering from Lula to me, then back again.

"Woah, buddy, who you aimin' that thing at? Sure as hell better not be me," Lula huffed. "Put that thing away before I bust a cap in yo ass."

She dropped the purses and reached into her own bag. The salesman got off a shot that missed Lula by inches, and she hauled out her Glock and aimed it at his head. He seemed to consider it a moment, then his gun swiveled to me.

"I'll shoot the skinny white bitch," he sneered. "Then Manoso be after both of us." He cocked an eyebrow at Lula. "That what you want?"

"Batman?" Lula asked. "Well, hell, I wouldn't mind him bein' after me, if you know what I mean."

"Ranger?" I asked. "I'm not Ranger's woman. You can put the gun down. He wouldn't care one way or another if you shot me. We'll just…"

"Hell no. You ain't trickin' me. Manoso put out a hands-off notice on you almost a year ago. Not many people on the street stupid enough to ignore that. Then this bitch," he said, motioning with his gun towards Lula, "gotta drag you right into my little corner of Trenton. Shit, he finds out he'll kill me just for principles. I should just put one in both your heads. Maybe he won't find out."

I put my hands up on either side of my face. "Ranger's not killing anyone. I hate it when he has to kill people for me. We'll just leave now and Ranger never needs to know about this. Lula, get in the car."

Lula snorted and kept her gun aimed at the guy.

"Lula," I ground out.

"Fine," she huffed and walked backwards towards the car, her Glock not wavering an inch.

I kept my eyes on the guy's gun as I made my way back to the car. "Now, I promise Ranger won't ever hear about this, just don't shoot at us."

I climbed into the Firebird.

"Go," I yelled at Lula and we peeled off down the road.

"Damnit," Lula said once we were halfway to the bonds office. "I really liked that pink bag."

I rolled my eyes and thunked my head back on the headrest. This was turning out to be a really long day; first a pig in my fridge, then a foot chase, now I belonged to Ranger. Oh boy.

* * *

Lula dropped me off at my parents' house so I could pick up Big Blue, my Great Uncle Sandor's jumbo-jet sized, powder blue '53 Buick. I drove to the bank to deposit my checks from Douglas and Mr. Feester. If I could get Donna Dernon this week, I'd be able to pay my rent this month. It was only 4:30, so I decided that there was no time like the present.

I drove the four blocks from the bank to Dernon's apartment. The shooting began before I was even in front of the house. I chanced a peek out my window and there was Dernon's boyfriend Chuck standing on the front porch trying his damndest to get a round through my windshield. I pulled a sharp u-turn and fishtailed it out of there. I didn't slow down until I was one block from my parents' house. Maybe tomorrow I'd call Ranger and see if he had a few minutes to help me deal with Dernon. I'd feel like a wimp doing it, but at least I wouldn't be a bullet-riddled wimp.

I arrived back at Casa de Plum at promptly five. Just in time to pretend to help mom with dinner. See, mom didn't really want my help with dinner, but it was 'Burg law that I offer and she accept. So I sat at the kitchen counter and tossed a salad – which she'd already prepared – while mom did all the heavy lifting.

"So, why are you here again?" To anyone else this would have seemed a very rude question. I'd learned to take mom in stride.

I watched her slide the meatloaf into the oven before I answered with a sigh. "Termite problems. The fumigation should be done in the next couple of days."

She nodded and turned up the heat on the potatoes. "Is Joe coming for dinner?"

I hadn't spoken to Joe since this morning and the pig incident. Truth was, I really didn't want to deal with Joe, but I couldn't tell my mom that. "He's got to work late," I lied. Hell, for all I knew it was the truth. Joe worked a lot of late nights recently.

"That's too bad," mom said. "Your grandmother is having a date over. I was hoping having a cop at the table would keep things in line." She glanced back at me over her shoulder. "I suppose an…apprehension agent…will have to do."

I almost smiled at the way she had to force out the words 'apprehension agent'. Mom was still very uncomfortable with my job except, apparently, when it came in handy.

"Sure, mom, I'll make sure she behaves," I assured her. In reality, there was no one who could control my grandmother. Unless, of course, it was Ranger. And he was standing in front of her naked. I'm pretty sure Grandma would do anything the Cuban Sex God wanted. I know I would. I froze. Bad thoughts, very bad thoughts. Remember Morelli, Steph? Your boyfriend? Who loves you? Who you claim to love? And I did love Joe, it was just… My mom looked back at me. I'd been silent for too long. "Is this guy from the personal ad?"

She nodded solemnly and crossed herself. "Lord, help me. My mother is searching for love using the newspaper. What will people think?"

I rolled my eyes. My mother cared entirely too much about what 'people' would think. I suppose as a good 'Burg daughter I should be caring right alongside her, but I just couldn't work up the energy, never mind the initiative, not on this anyway.

"I'll go set the table," I told mom.

She nodded, distracted by her own thoughts. Probably trying to come up with some excuse for her mother's behavior. 'She's senile, poor thing.' 'I was adopted. My real mother would never take out a _personal ad_.' 'Bad gene, you know, very good thing I wasn't cursed with it. But that Stephanie…'

* * *

Grandma's date turned out to be a pretty decent guy. His name was Liam Riley. He was about the same age as grandma, but he looked about 20 years younger than her. He was ex-Navy and I couldn't get over how much he reminded me of Ranger. His hair was all silver, but fell thick and heavy to his collar. His eyes were a piercing blue, and when he smiled, which was often, it was just a slight crinkling of his eyes and lips; an almost-smile. He didn't talk much, but when he did his voice was low and smooth. He called my dad and mom 'sir' and 'ma'am'. Me, he called 'sweetie'. He said I reminded him of his daughter when she'd been my age. It was when his eyes fell on grandma that I felt the air shift. He smiled down at her like she was a rare treasure and he had the only key to the vault. My heart stuttered. I wanted someone to look at me that way.

When dinner ended, Mr. Riley shook dad's hand, kissed mom and I on the cheek and allowed grandma to walk him to the door. Grandma stumbled back a few minutes later looking decidedly starry-eyed.

"Ain't he a pip," she sighed.

"A pip," I agreed.

"He seemed…very nice," my mother admitted. "You should invite him back again soon."

Grandma smiled up at my mother and I swear I saw my mother's lips twitch in return.

"He got his own place?" My dad asked from his spot in front of the TV. "When can you move in?"

We ignored him and moved into the kitchen for leftover cake.

"So, how are you and the cop?" Grandma asked once we were seated at the kitchen table.

I sighed. "We're good," I said, not knowing for sure if it was truth or lie. I didn't know what to think of Joe and I. I loved him, I knew that, but was it the right kind of love? Did it come with a ring and a promise of forever? I hated to admit it, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the answer was no. So, why was I still with him? I took another bite of cake. I'd worry about that some other time. For now, there was cake to be dealt with.

* * *

A/N: So, what did you think? Some crazy skips, concerned!Ranger, a shootout! and a new man for Grandma! Life couldn't get any more exciting…or could it? Stay tuned!

Oh, and Big Blue is a '53 Buick, right? I looked on Janet's website, but I couldn't find anything that said what year it was and I was too lazy to find it in the books. If it's wrong, I'll come back and fix it.


	5. Enlightened

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks so much for the awesome reviews! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

My eyes cracked open in the dim light from the street lamp outside my window. The pale purple walls and the glowy stars on the ceiling told me that I was in my childhood bedroom. The clock on my bedside table told me that it was shortly after three in the morning. The thudding of my heart told me that something was very wrong. I closed my eyes and listened hard, trying to be like Ranger, trying to be aware of my surroundings. Everything sounded normal; Grandma snoring down the hall, the grunt from my father as he rolled over in his sleep, the steady drip, drip, drip from the leaky faucet in the bathroom. I sat up and scanned the room; dirty clothes on the floor, duffle bag on the chair in the corner, old school pictures on the shelf above the bed. My eyes tracked to the nightstand and a scream froze in my throat.

There on my night table, sitting next to a half-empty glass of water, was a foot. A pig foot to be exact. I stared at it in horror for a full minute, making sure that I wasn't going to scream or puke or any of those wimpy, girly things. I took a deep breath and stared at it some more. Creepy, stalker, pig guy had been in my room. While I was asleep. Because that sure as hell hadn't been there earlier.

My head had stopped spinning by now so I peered more closely at the foot. There was a scrap of paper next to it. I reached over, careful not to touch the piggy foot, and took the paper. I held my breath while I unfolded it. Then let it out in a rush as I read the note.

_This little piggy went to the hotel._

_This little piggy stayed home._

_This little piggy ate meatloaf._

_This little piggy had none._

_This little piggy cried help, help, help,_

_But nobody came._

It doesn't rhyme, I thought, then chastised myself. That was hardly the issue. Wait a minute, 'nobody came'? Was he implying that…

I flew out of bed and down the hall to my parents' room. I cracked the door open and peered in. Everything looked okay. Then my dad rolled over and mom swatted his hand away. I closed my eyes in relief. I moved quietly down the hall to grandma's room and opened the door. It wasn't really necessary since I could hear her snores from down the hall. Still… Grandma was there, arms straight at her sides, mouth wide open, issuing the roaring rumble which was probably shaking the window panes. I closed Grandma's door and tiptoed down the stairs. I did a quick sweep, thinking that I probably should have grabbed Grandma's gun first, but the place was empty. The guy had come and gone. I sunk down onto the couch and took a few deep breaths.

Okay, I could wake up my parents and call the police, but then what would the neighbors think? I almost giggled to myself at that thought. I forced myself to sober. No, that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was that I didn't want to get my parents involved in this. I wanted this part of my life as far away from them as possible.

So, option two. I could call Joe. That really led back to option one, because technically Joe was the police. He'd have to treat this as a crime scene and that would get my parents involved. Exactly what I didn't want.

Option three, I could call Ranger. This seemed the best of my options, but not ideal. Ranger would keep this quiet, he would get the information to the right people, he would keep me safe. But my parents would still be involved.

I sighed and got up from the couch. I made a stop in the kitchen and headed back upstairs. I stopped just inside the doorway to my bedroom and took a deep breath. You can do this, Stephanie. Wonder Woman, remember?

I walked over to the nightstand and before I could think about it, reached down and picked up the pig foot using an inside out Ziploc bag. I flipped the bag right-side out so that the foot was inside and zipped the thing shut. I let out the breath I'd been holding.

The note was easier. It was just paper, nothing icky or dead about it. I picked it up and slipped it into another baggie. I emptied my purse into my duffle bag and put the foot and the note in my empty purse. Damn, I thought, that had been one of my favorite purses. No way was I using it again after this.

I packed up the rest of my things and set them by the door. Then, I headed back downstairs and sat on the couch. Great, I'd stay awake the rest of the night, and then first thing in the morning I'd go back to my apartment and call Joe or Ranger. I'd tell the cops I'd found this stuff at my place. No need to involve my parents or Grandma. Right. Like that would last long.

* * *

"It's his day off, Steph. He's not here." Morelli wasn't answering his cell phone or his house phone. And he wasn't at work. I'd called him first since I'd known this stuff had to go to the cops anyway, and I'd wanted to avoid the blow-up if he discovered that I'd called Ranger before him.

Well, he was unreachable; he couldn't blame me for calling the man in black now. I pressed speed dial one and waited. It went straight to voice mail.

"I've got…a bit of a problem," I told Ranger's voice mail. "Call me as soon as you get this."

I sat on the couch and watched an hour of 'I Dream of Jeannie'. Still no Ranger. He usually called back right away. Maybe he was in a meeting. I decided to call Rangeman and find out.

"The boss is offline," Tank told me.

"Offline?" I asked. "Where? For how long? Is he in the wind? He didn't tell me he was leaving."

Tank chuckled lightly on the other end. "Just for the day, Steph. I'm not sure where he is but he'll be back tomorrow. Was there something you needed?"

I hesitated. I really wanted _Ranger_ to come take care of this. I wanted him here when the cops showed up, keeping me safe, keeping me sane. I supposed one of Ranger's men would have to do.

"I got another delivery from our little friend," I told Tank.

"You at home?" Like he couldn't just pull up a screen somewhere and check for himself. Ranger always had a tracking device on me.

"Yeah," I said.

"You okay?" I almost laughed. That was such an un-Tank-like question. Ranger must be training his men on how to deal with Stephanie catastrophes.

"I'd be better if Ranger was a solid human being instead of the wind."

Tank laughed. "I'll be there in ten." Then he hung up.

* * *

Tank was there in ten minutes like he said. He brought Bobby and Lester who were going to search the apartment for any evidence before I told them that this wasn't the crime scene.

"Shit, Steph, you messed with a crime scene?" Lester said. "There could have been valuable evidence."

"My parents don't need to know about this," I replied. "And they would if there were a bunch of people at their house searching for evidence. There was nothing. I promise."

Lester sighed. "Fine," he said. "Give me the piggy foot and the note. B and I'll get right on that." He and Bobby grabbed the stuff and left.

"Where are you staying, Steph?" Tank asked me once the other two were gone.

"Here."

He narrowed his eyes. "Stephanie."

"Tank, I'm not running away. So far this guy's just…"

I was interrupted by the phone ringing. I looked at Tank who motioned for me to answer it. I did.

"Hello?"

"He's not there when you need him, Stephanie." I put it on speaker phone. "Does it make you wonder where he is? I don't wonder, Stephanie. I know. _She's_ more important than you. He's with her. Right now. While you're in trouble and needing him. I'd be there for you, Stephanie. You deserve better." I heard the click and raced for the bathroom.

When I was sure nothing was coming up, I stood up and returned to the kitchen. Tank was on the phone.

"Yeah. No, no direct threats. Dunno. Or the boss. Yeah. Keep me posted."

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Manny," Tank said, putting his phone back in the holder on his belt. "He's our resident profiler."

"Should we go to the cops?" I asked quietly.

"Bobby and Lester will turn everything over when they're done with it." He flipped my phone over and took a small device off of the back. "I want Manny to hear this."

I froze. "You…you've been recording my calls?" I managed to choke out.

He looked at me for a moment as if considering how best to answer. "Now, Steph…"

"I'll kill him."

"Stephanie, listen to me." He placed a large hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. "Ranger is just trying to help you. We need all the evidence we can get if we want this guy to actually see prison time once we catch him. And we will catch him," he added. "The recordings are time stamped. As long as we know the times this guy called, those are the only ones we need to listen to. Ranger isn't trying to invade your privacy, he's just trying to keep you safe."

Safe, I thought. Ranger was always trying to keep me safe. I didn't deserve him. I fell forward and bawled into Tank's chest. This day, this week, it was all too much for me. I didn't care that this was Tank; huge, forbidding, ex-army guy Tank. I didn't care that I'd promised myself I wouldn't break down. I didn't care that I had snot running down my lip or that my face was all splotchy.

"He's with her," I wailed to Tank. He said nothing, just stood perfectly still and let me cry into his shirt. The weird part was, I didn't even know who I was talking about. Joe or Ranger? And with whom? And which one was I crying over?

"Shhh," Tank said after a moment. "It'll be alright." His hand came up to awkwardly rub my back and I finally relaxed into him.

"I'm okay," I said after awhile. "I'll be okay."

He looked down at me like he didn't quite believe me, but then he nodded.

"Where are you staying tonight?"

My eyes flashed to his. "I told you, here."

He sighed. "Steph, Ranger will kill me if…"

"Well, Ranger's not here, is he? If he wants me elsewhere he can move me himself. And he won't kill you," I added. "He needs you too much."

Tank groaned and rubbed a hand across his face. "Shit, Steph."

"Just go, Tank. I'll be fine." I ushered him to the door.

"But, Steph…"

"No."

He took one step into the hall. "It's on your head," he said, and then he left.

I shut and locked the door behind him, then slid down to the floor. One of the men in my life was cheating on me. No, scratch that, because Ranger couldn't really cheat, could he? We weren't actually together. Ranger could see whomever he wanted to see and I didn't have any say in it. So, then why did that thought cut me deeper than the idea of Joe banging Terry Gilman? Was this how Ranger felt every time he saw me with Morelli? God, I hoped not, because it hurt like hell, and I would never want Ranger to hurt like this, not because of me.

But maybe the psycho really was just that, a psycho. Maybe he was making all of this up. Maybe I really was the only woman in either of their lives. I stifled a sob. Yeah, and maybe Tastykakes really were good for you.

* * *

I knew that Tank had placed a guy in my parking lot to watch over me, but I still took my gun out of my cookie jar and loaded it. I'd decided that I'd stay in today. I'd called the office and asked Connie if anything new had come in. She'd said no. That meant that the only skip I had left was Donna Dernon, and there was no way I was going after her today, Merry Man escort or no.

So, here I was at five in the evening, still in my pajamas, sitting in front of my TV, gun on the coffee table, a bottle of water in one hand and a peanut butter and olive sandwich in the other; comfort food. I had distracted myself with a Mission Impossible marathon, but movies couldn't keep my mind occupied much longer. I needed sugar. I needed a donut. I needed Ben and Jerry.

I got dressed in record time and flew out the door and to the parking lot. Hector was sitting in a Rangeman SUV in the spot next to Big Blue. Now, Hector kind of scared me. He was big and intimidating and he didn't speak much English. It was a show of how desperate I was that I walked over to the SUV and climbed into the passenger's seat. I could have driven myself, but I figured that as long as Ranger was forcing a Merry Man escort on me, I might as well waste _his_ gas.

"I need ice cream," I told Hector. He stared at me like I was from another planet. Or maybe just another country.

"Sugar? You know, sweets?"

Hector continued to stare.

"Ben and Jerry's?"

Hector's face broke into a wide grin.

"Ah, Ben y Jerry's. A veces mi esposa come un paquete entero de esto. Es ese tiempo del mes. ¿No?"

It was my turn to stare. I really should have Ranger teach me some Spanish. Of course, then he wouldn't be able to talk about me to his men without me knowing. Oh well.

"Umm, sure. Yeah."

"Sí?"

"Uh, sí."

Hector let out a loud chuckle and turned on the SUV. We drove to the nearest Seven Eleven and went in together. I bought a pint of Chunky Monkey, a Butterscotch Krimpet, a Chocolate Junior, a Peanut Butter Kandy Kake, and a bag of Fritos. Hector laughed all the way back to the car.

Hector walked me up to my apartment, did a quick search and left laughing to himself and mumbling something like, "Pobre Jefe."

I decided to take a quick shower before I settled down to my dessert feast. The hot water helped to ease some of the tension I'd been feeling since last night. I hopped out, dried off and dressed in a clean pair of sweats. Then I put Ghostbusters in the DVD player, plopped myself down on the couch and peeled back the lid on my B&J's.

Half an hour into the movie I found myself lost. Was it to this part already? I'd missed the whole beginning of the movie. My brain was too focused on what my stalker had said on the phone this morning.

I'd come to the conclusion that he must be telling the truth about the other woman. Why would he lie? _Because he's psycho,_ I reminded myself. Yes, but why are they both still unreachable? I'd tried both Joe and Ranger about three more times each. Both their phones still went straight to voice mail. I contemplated driving to Morelli's house to make sure he wasn't dead or something, but decided against it. He was probably on a job…or with another woman. I took deep breaths to stop myself from crying again. Would it be so bad? Hadn't I just discovered yesterday that I didn't love him the right way for a lasting relationship? Yes. Did that mean that it wouldn't hurt if he was cheating on me? No.

I didn't even really want to contemplate Ranger with another woman. I knew, logically, that there must have been other women. I couldn't have expected him to be celibate for all this time. I guess I just wanted to be able to think that none of them had meant anything. I knew it was selfish. I knew I had no right to wish that, but there it was. I loved Ranger. I'd known it since the Scrog incident. What I hadn't realized until now was that I wanted Ranger to love me back. How could I want such a thing when I was still with Morelli? I was a horrible person.

I closed my eyes and let a few tears slip down my face. I loved two men. Joe, who had been in my life for so long that he was a constant. He was there even when everything else in the world seemed to be wrong. He'd been my beginning, I guess I'd never really thought about him _not_ being my ending. But I wasn't _in love_ with him, not in the way required to sustain marriages and build families. Why else would it be so easy to be off-again? We fought constantly. We were friends, but we didn't really talk about anything that mattered. We had great sex. Ranger was right, it really was an unhealthy relationship. It shouldn't be this hard, I thought morosely. It shouldn't be a constant battle until one of us throws up a white flag. It shouldn't be so easy for us to love other people. Me, at least, for me to love other people. One other person.

Ranger. He was a more recent addition to my life, but somehow it felt like he'd been there forever. I trusted him implicitly. Not something I could truthfully say about Joe. Ranger had never lied to me, never hurt me, not on purpose anyway. Oh, it had hurt that morning after our night together, when he'd walked out and told me to go back to Morelli, but I refused to believe that he'd known it would hurt me. Ranger wasn't that cruel. He was the glue that held me together. When something went wrong I knew that he would appear, as if out of nowhere, and put my life back together again. It was hard for him to let people in, I knew that, but he had been letting me in, bit by bit, for awhile now. Besides Mary Lou, he was my best friend. I knew that Joe should have taken this position, but he didn't. It was Ranger. It had been Ranger for a long time.

Where Joe was comfortable, Ranger was comfort. Where Joe was safe, Ranger was my safety. Where Joe was pleasure, Ranger was passion and love and…life.

I wasn't sure what there could ever be between us, what he would let there be. Maybe nothing. All I knew was that I loved him just as much as I loved Joe…maybe more. And now he was out there with another woman. I shuddered as another round of tears made their appearance. I didn't know that, I reminded myself. It could be Joe. Or it could be neither one of them. I felt like my head was going to implode from all the speculation. I pushed everything from my mind and only one thought remained. No matter how all of this turned out, Joe and I were over. I couldn't do this to him any longer, couldn't do it to myself. We both deserved better, more.

I fell asleep that night praying to God that it was Joe with the other woman. How awful is that?

* * *

A/N: Translations courtesy of five years of Spanish classes. If there are any mistakes, you can blame it on the fact that it's been about two years since I've used it for anything besides polite conversation.

"Ah, Ben y Jerry's. A veces mi esposa come un paquete entero de esto. Es ese tiempo del mes. ¿No?"

"Ah, Ben and Jerry's. Sometimes my wife eats a whole package of this. It is that time of the month, no?"

(I couldn't find my Spanish/English dictionary to find the word for carton, pint, etc. I figured 'package' gets the point across.)

"Pobre Jefe."

"Poor Boss."


	6. Broken

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thank you so so so much for all the wonderful reviews. And thanks to everyone who's still reading, you guys rock! I'm glad you're all into the piggy psycho stalker, and trying to guess who's seeing the other woman. Hope I can keep you speculating for awhile longer. Oh, yes, and some more Ghetto!Ranger in this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

I was awake at some god-awful hour of the morning and for once I knew exactly what had woken me. My arms tingled in a way caused only by one thing in the world.

"Ranger?" I called softly.

"I'm here, babe." He was sitting in the chair that I kept in my bedroom. I could just make him out in the scant light filtering through my window from the parking lot. He was dressed in black jeans and a loose-fitting black t-shirt…well, loose compared to his usual painted on ones. Rambo Ranger had taken a day off. He rose fluidly and walked over to my bed. I shifted to a sitting position as he sat on the edge of it.

"Why are you here?"

His face was blank. He reached over to tuck a curl behind my ear but I moved out of his reach.

"Ranger?"

"Tank told me what happened today. The foot and the note." He watched me for a moment. "I'm sorry I wasn't here. You okay?"

I nodded. If I opened my mouth to speak right now I was pretty sure I'd end up sobbing. And I didn't want to do that, not in front of Ranger.

"Why didn't you let Tank take you somewhere safe?" If that didn't get rid of the urge to sob…

"I told you, Ranger, I'm not going to a safe house."

"You could have stayed in my apartment."

I closed my eyes. Like I wanted to stay there. What if his girlfriend showed up? But, no, he was with her, remember? I hadn't stayed there in awhile, what if I went to take a shower and there was her shampoo? That made me wonder what he'd done with the bottle I'd left there. Had she found it? No, she probably stayed with him in the Batcave. No impersonal office apartments for her. The thought made me unreasonably bitter. I flinched when Ranger touched my cheek gently.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

I opened my eyes. I was shocked at the amount of concern staring back at me from the depths of his dark eyes. It undid me.

"Did you listen to the tape?" I asked in a low whisper.

He shook his head. "I just got in. I came straight here."

I blinked rapidly while my heart thumped wildly in my chest. He'd come straight here? Well, then surely…

"Where were you, Ranger?" I knew that there was very a good chance he wouldn't answer me.

"Babe," he said. It was almost a question. 'Why are you asking?' or something like that. Then he surprised me. "I was with my family. My mother invited us all for the day. I couldn't get out of it."

I let out a breath I hadn't been aware of holding. But that didn't really prove anything. I took a deep breath. "Were you there with a date?"

"Babe?" It really was a question now. He scooted closer to me on the bed, but I scooted back, away from him. I couldn't stand to be that close to him when he told me…when he told me… "Tell me what's going on, Stephanie."

"He called," I began. "The psycho stalker." Ranger nodded for me to continue. "He…he said something like 'He's not there when you need him because he's with _her_.'" I took a big gulp of air. "It's…it's none of my business if you were…if you were with…"

He placed a finger under my chin and tipped my face up to his. "Babe." His voice and his face were deadly serious and I wanted to run, to hide, to be anywhere but here, with him, with what he was about to tell me.

He gritted his teeth, his voice coming out like a deadly whisper. "Maybe this guy's lying. Maybe he's making it up. I'm sure Morelli's not…I'm sure he wouldn't cheat on you."

Morelli? Morelli wasn't cheating on me? Did that mean…He hadn't answered my question. More than anything, I needed him to answer my question. It wasn't my business, I knew that. If he had been with a woman, I'd have to suck it up and pretend like I was happy for him. I'd have to hold the tears back until he walked out of my apartment…out of my life. Because I couldn't screw up Ranger's life like I'd screwed up my own. If he was with someone…if he was happy, I wasn't going to interfere. I would step back. I could do this…

"You need to talk to him, I'm sure you can work this out." He stood from the edge of the bed and stooped to pick up his gun belt. "I'll make sure there's a man on you at all times."

No! No, he was leaving and I couldn't make my voice work to ask him to just answer my question. I was panicking now, shaking with the fear that Ranger was walking out of my life for good.

"Bobby's on Steph-watch. He's in the parking lot," he said, and then he walked to the door.

I ran after him, unable to make my voice work around the lump in my throat. His ESP was clearly taking a day off also because he misread the panic in my eyes.

"It'll be fine, Steph. Morelli's a smart guy, he knows what he'd be losing. You'll work it out." Then he opened the door, took one last, long look at my face and left.

I stood there staring after him, my heart breaking into tiny little pieces. 'I don't want to work it out,' I wanted to scream after him, 'I just want you.' But he was already gone. I ran back to my bedroom, fell onto the bed and cried myself to sleep.

* * *

I woke the next morning with a terrible headache. It was like a hangover, only worse because I could remember the previous night with startling clarity. I was fairly certain both of the men in my life were seeing other women. Damn, Stephanie, you sure know how to pick 'em.

After my coffee and strawberry poptart, I decided that it was time to call Morelli. Denial could only take me so far. He answered his cell phone on the third ring.

"Morelli."

"Hi, Joe."

He took a deep breath. "Listen, cupcake, I'm really busy here at the office…"

"We need to talk."

"Sure, sure, we'll talk later." Then he hung up.

I stared down at the phone in my hand. What was it with the men in my life hanging up on me?

I sludged through the day, trying to pretend like everything was okay. I was pretty sure I was doing an okay job until I got to the bonds office and Connie gave me the once over.

"You and Morelli have a fight?" She asked. Connie could be far too intuitive at times.

"No, I'm fine." I pleaded with my eyes for her to just shut up. I couldn't deal with this right now.

She nodded slowly, then looked back at her desk.

"Nothing new, but Vinnie wants Donna Dernon." She looked up at me. "Today."

I groaned and turned to Lula.

"Hell no, girl. I ain't got no death wish. No way you're gettin' me within a mile of that apartment building."

I closed my eyes. Guess I'd just have to go after her myself. I _had_ been going to ask Ranger to help me but…

The tingling started before I'd even reopened my eyes. I groaned inwardly and turned to face the door. Ranger strode in a moment later. His eyes found mine and softened perceptively.

"Babe."

Well, he was still calling me 'babe', at least. That had to mean something.

He looked at Connie, who nodded, then headed into Vinnie's office. I gritted my teeth and turned to the girls.

"I'll see you guys later."

Then I walked out to the Turbo and waited. Ranger came out ten minutes later and stopped in his tracks when he saw me.

"Babe."

I took a deep breath. "I could use your help with a skip."

He watched me for a moment, his blank face falling into place. "Who's the skip?"

"Donna Dernon," I told him.

His lips tipped up in his almost-smile. "Babe, Donna Dernon was arrested for robbery. She wasn't even armed. She's five foot nothing. You telling me you can't handle her?"

I wanted to hit him. Badly. I was fairly certain, however, that it'd hurt me more than it'd hurt him. Besides, I needed him on my side.

"Her I could handle, her six foot boyfriend and his .45, not so much."

His eyes narrowed and a muscle ticked in his jaw. "Boyfriend's interfering?"

I nodded.

"Good. Let's go. I'm going to show him what interference is."

* * *

Ranger parked the Turbo behind Dernon's apartment building and reached into the back seat. He pulled out two Kevlar vests and handed one to me.

"I don't think we'll need them, but it's better to be safe," he told me.

When we were both strapped in, he turned to me. "I don't suppose you have your gun."

I tipped my nose up. "Don't suppose I do."

He shook his head, a smile flirting with the edges of his lips. Then he reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a .38 and handed it to me.

"Is this mine?" I asked, looking back up at him.

He shook his head. "I keep hoping you'll bring it on your own." He laughed softly to himself. "Wishful thinking, I guess. I picked this one up for emergencies."

"This is an emergency?"

"You're my backup, babe. And my backup carries a gun."

I wanted to laugh. Batman doesn't need backup.

Ranger smiled gently. "I'm not Batman," he said. "And besides, Batman had Robin."

I followed Ranger up the stairs to the second floor. He stopped me with a raised hand just as we exited the stairwell.

"Stay behind me," he said quietly. "And follow my lead."

I nodded. Normally I'd argue, but things were weird with Ranger right now. I was lucky he'd agreed to help at all.

He stood just to the side of the door when we reached 208 and reached up a hand to knock.

"Who's there?" A gruff voice asked through the closed door.

"Me," Ranger said.

The door sung open and there was Chuck, gun in hand. "Who the fuck's me?"

Ranger reached out and did some cool martial arts move and grabbed Chuck's gun right out of his hand. There was a scuffle and some grunting and a few curses from Chuck and by the time I stepped into the apartment, Ranger had Chuck pinned to the wall beside the door.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Chuck yelled.

"I'm evening the odds," Ranger said in his deadly calm voice. "I like a fair fight. This two on one shit don't sit right with me."

"Now, this is between Stephanie and Donna. You gonna step in on your woman's behalf," he said with a shrug, "I'm gonna step in for mine."

There it was again, suddenly I was Ranger's woman. That reminded me; I had to ask him about that hands-off notice thing.

"This is bullsh…"

Ranger's grip must have tightened because poor Chuck winced and shut the hell up.

"Now here's how this is gonna go," Ranger said. "We're gonna stand here like calm, cool gentlemen and let the women sort this out. ¿Comprende?"

Ranger shoved the guy hard against the wall.

"Yeah, yeah, fuckin' comprende."

Ranger stepped back, keeping his eyes on the other man.

"Where's Donna?"

Chuck hesitated a moment. Ranger raised one eyebrow and Chuck caved. Fucking Batman.

"Okay, okay. Donna, come on out, baby."

There was nothing for a minute, then little Donna Dernon peeked her head out of the bedroom.

"Charlie?"

"C'mon Donna, we ain't got all day."

"But Charlie, you said…"

"Forget what I said. Fuckin' look at this guy." He nodded to Ranger. "You want this guy to fuckin' kill me?"

Donna shook her head, mouse brown hair swinging about her thin shoulders. "No, Charlie, no of course not."

"Then do what they say, damnit."

Donna's eyes moved slowly from her lowlife boyfriend to me.

"I'm Stephanie Plum," I said. "I work for Plum Bail Bonds. You missed your court date and I need to take you in to reschedule."

Her eyes sought Chuck's. He nodded vigorously.

"O…okay," she stuttered.

She walked towards me, her eyes never leaving Chuck. I almost felt bad cuffing her.

"Stephanie's gonna take Donna down to the car now. You're gonna stay here." Ranger tilted his head towards the door and I gently shoved Donna through it.

"Oh," Ranger said, holding up Chuck's .45, "and I'm taking this." He tucked the gun into his waistband and backed towards me.

"Go on, babe."

I walked Donna out the door, and down the stairs to the Turbo. Ranger joined us a minute later.

I looked over at him once we were all in the car. "Nice Ghetto Ranger."

His lips tipped up at the corners. "Babe." Then he revved the engine and pulled out of the lot.

* * *

I turned to Donna as we drove down Emery Road.

"Why don't you turn him in?" I asked.

She stared at me, eyes wide, mouth agape. "I didn't…he didn't…we…we…"

"Everyone knows," I told her.

"There's no…no proof," she gasped out.

I shook my head. They'd only found one set of prints, Donna's. I had been pretty sure before, but now that I'd met Donna I was certain. Donna Dernon could not have robbed that place on her own. She would have gotten to the locked door, said 'Oh, I guess it must be closed,' and gone home.

"He wore gloves, didn't he?"

Donna blinked back a few tears.

"Why didn't he tell you to wear gloves?"

"Som…someone had to take the fall," she whispered. "With his record…"

I rolled my eyes. "Why would you cover for him?"

She gasped like I'd said something crazy. "I love him."

I sighed. People did stupid things for love. I, for one, had spent three years in an unhealthy relationship.

"He let you take the fall," I told Donna quietly. "You don't do that to someone you love."

I turned back to look out the front window. Why did love have to be so complicated? Donna's life was shit, but my own wasn't much better. I was about to dump the only man I'd ever thought about marrying. I glanced over at Ranger. And the man I loved more than anything else was seeing another woman. I closed my eyes and settled back against the seat.

"I should turn him in," I heard Donna whisper a few minutes later.

We were all silent. Ranger was still in his zone. I had no idea what to say; of course she should turn him in.

"How do I turn him in?"

I turned in my seat. "You get a lawyer. If you're lucky, they'll be able to get you a deal; a shorter sentence in exchange for your testimony against Chuck."

"Charlie," she corrected me automatically.

"Whatever."

"I can't afford a lawyer," Donna said a few moments later.

And I knew how much those court appointed attorneys cared about what happened to their clients. I took a deep breath.

"Let me make a call."

Valerie answered on the second ring. "Kloughn, attorney at law."

"Val, I've got a client for you."

"Oh, Steph!" Valerie cried. "It's so good to hear from you. I heard about your car. How are you?"

"I'm fine," I assured her. "But listen, I was hoping you could give this client the family and friends discount."

"Umm, well, I mean business has been slow, so I guess discounted business is better than no business, but…"

"Can you ask Albert?" I said, trying to make my voice low so that Donna wouldn't hear me begging.

"Yeah, sure, Steph." She pulled the phone away from her mouth and I heard some Snookie Wookums going on. I tried hard not to vomit. "Snookums says he'll do it," Val told me a moment later.

"Oh, that's great Val, thank you so much."

"No problem, Steph."

"Could he meet us at the police station?" I asked. The sooner we got this show on the road, the less time Donna had to change her mind.

"Yeah, sure, he'll be there."

"Great, Val, I'll talk to you later." I hung up and turned back to Donna. "Good news, I got you Albert Kloughn."

Donna stared at me. "You got me a clown for a lawyer?"

I swear I saw Ranger smile before his 'zone face' slipped back into place.

* * *

I had Ranger park in the lot at the station so we could wait for Albert and Connie. Connie pulled in five minutes later and Albert was three minutes behind her. I climbed out of the car and opened the back door for Donna. I peeked in at Ranger.

"You gonna be here when I get out?" I asked with a grin.

His blank face didn't change. "Well, I don't know, I got this allergy…"

I slammed the door in his face. I could hear him laughing as I led Donna over to Albert and Connie.

I sat Albert next to Donna on the bench while Connie and I took care of getting her re-bonded. They seemed to hit it off immediately. Great, now just so long as Albert could keep his dick in his pants…I shelved that thought. Not _all_ men were pigs, just the ones I was involved with.

"You can't go back to your apartment," I told Donna as we were headed back out to the lot. "You can't be involved with Chuck anymore."

She nodded and didn't even correct me on Chuck's name. Progress.

"Do you have somewhere else to stay?"

"I can stay with my mom," she said with a grimace. "She lives in the 'Burg."

Ouch. I feel you there, girl.

Albert promised to make sure Donna made it to her mom's after they stopped at his office. I smiled and waved goodbye and went to find Ranger.

He was leaning against the Turbo, a bemused look on his face.

"What?" I asked him.

He looked down at me. "I just had the weirdest conversation with Morelli."

"Joe?" I asked. "He was here?"

Some of the humor slipped off his face. "Yeah. He went around to the front door."

"He's avoiding me," I mused aloud.

Ranger just shrugged.

"What did he say?"

Ranger's eyes danced with a strange kind of mirth. "He offered a trade."

"What?"

Ranger shook his head. "He said 'I'm willing to make a trade. Let me know.' Then he walked off. Any idea what he's talking about?"

I shook my head.

Ranger shrugged once more, then ushered me around the car to my door. He slipped back into his zone as soon as we were moving, but my brain was stuck on Morelli's 'trade'. What the hell was that all about?

* * *

"Steph," Ranger said once we were halfway to the bonds office. I looked over at him. Must be serious, I thought. Ranger doesn't break his zone for just anything. "I put surveillance on Morelli."

Okay. Definitely not what I was expecting. Ranger was going to help me catch Morelli in the act? If I wasn't so horribly sure that he was seeing someone, I might think he was trying to get back in my bed.

"I thought you'd want to know, one way or the other."

I guess I did, now that I thought about it, but it wouldn't change anything. Morelli and I were over, he just didn't know it yet.

"Thanks, Ranger, but…"

"If you want to pretend like nothing happened and go back to your little 'Burg world, that's fine by me," Ranger gritted out. I could see the muscle tick in his jaw.

"Ranger, I…"

"It's none of my fucking business if he's stepping out on you and you want to ignore it. Denial always was your favorite kind of reaction."

"I'm not…"

"I'll just call the guys off."

"Godamnit, Ranger," I yelled. "Will you just shut up for one minute?" Ironic that the grand master of one word replies wasn't letting me get a word in edgewise.

His eyes flicked to mine. They were hard, black steel. He slid into a spot in front of the office, shut off the car and nodded once.

I took off my seatbelt so I'd have more room for Italian hand gestures. Batman was getting on my last nerve.

"You're right," I began, "it is none of your fucking business. My love life is _none_ of your business. Not after…" I let the sentence die, not able to make myself admit out loud that he was seeing someone. He said nothing, so I went on.

"That point aside, it doesn't matter whether or not Joe is cheating." I watched Ranger's eyes narrow. His hand gripping the steering wheel tightened until the knuckles turned white.

"Because we're through. One way or the other, Joe and I are over."

Ranger blinked twice and his grip loosened.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm going over there tonight to break it off."

Ranger stared at me, his eyes so intense that it was making me nervous.

"What?" He finally muttered.

I glared. Batman wasn't usually this dense. "You heard me."

He shook his head infinitesimally. "Why?"

"What do you care?"

His eyes softened slowly as he continued to watch me.

"Why, babe?"

I looked down at my lap. It was shameful the way he could get to me. One whispered 'babe' and I was putty in his hands.

"I can't do it anymore, not to either of us. We don't love each other, not the right way." I glanced up at him and smiled wryly. "All kinds of love, remember?"

He said nothing.

"Well, this kind of love doesn't come with a ring, or a friendship, or happiness even. This kind of love comes with sex and beer and a whole lot of fighting, and I can't do it anymore."

I glanced back down at my lap so that I wouldn't have to see the pity on Ranger's face.

"You decide all this right now?" He asked.

I shook my head,

"When?"

I shrugged. "I guess it all started with Scrog. It kind of solidified a few days ago, though."

We were quiet for several moments and I contemplated getting out of the car.

Then Ranger spoke, "Why were you so upset, then? Last night, when you thought he was cheating on you?"

I raised my eyes slowly to his. Oh, God. Here it comes, the final blow to shatter my heart.

"I didn't," I said softly.

Ranger's eyes widened.

"Steph…"

"The stalker never said who _he_ was," I whispered.

I'm pretty sure Ranger stopped breathing.

"Steph," he murmured. "You know I…"

"I know, okay? Believe me, I know. Just…don't."

I opened the car door.

"Steph, I…"

"Don't, Ranger. Just don't." I looked back at him once, then stepped out of the car. "I've got to go."

I ran to Big Blue and started the engine frantically. I made it halfway home before I had to pull over, my eyes so full of tears, I couldn't see.

* * *

A/N: No offense meant to any public defenders out there. I've never had any experience in the court system, so I just kind of made that part up to suit my purposes.

Oh, and sorry for the sorta cliffie...

Don't forget to let me know what you thought!


	7. Betrayed

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews! Since I got such a great response, I've decided I won't leave you hanging any longer. A little bit of my favorite Rangeman in this chapter (besides _the_ Rangeman, of course)! Yay! I feel I must remind everyone that this story is NOT Cupcake friendly, I will have no complaints after you read this chapter, you've been warned. Longest chapter yet, enjoy!

* * *

Lester pulled me out of my car as soon as I parked in my lot.

"What is it, beautiful?" He asked, taking in my tear-streaked face.

I shook my head and let him drag me up the stairs to my apartment.

"Should I call Ranger?"

I sniffled a few times and was able to give him a vehement, "No!"

He watched me carefully as I went to the kitchen and grabbed my last Tastykake from the cabinet. I blew my nose and wiped my eyes, then bit into the cake.

"He's the cause of this, isn't he?" Lester asked after a moment.

I looked up. I'd almost forgotten he was here. Well, Ranger had said he'd have a man on me. I was surprised Lester hadn't seen me dash from Ranger's car back at the bonds office.

"He called me after you left the office and told me to find you on the GPS," Lester answered. Rangeman ESP.

I felt half a moment of disbelief that Ranger had sent Lester to do his dirty work before Les spoke.

"What did my cousin do to you, Stephanie?"

"Cousin?" I gasped. "Ranger is your cousin?"

He nodded. "My mom and his mom are sisters. He never told you?"

I shook my head and walked over to the couch. Lester sat next to me.

"Ranger doesn't tell me much."

Lester's laugh was nice after my crying jag. I leaned a little closer to him, absorbing his warmth. I just felt so cold, like my broken heart wasn't pumping blood to the rest of my body anymore.

"Oh, I know that's not true," Lester said. "Ranger tells you more than he tells anyone." He glanced down at me, then he grabbed the throw from the back of the couch and wrapped it around me, keeping his arm around my shoulders. "You know about Julie and Rachel."

I snorted. "Barely."

"Not much else to tell, Bombshell. It was a one time mistake and Ranger dealt with it in the only way he knew how, he married the girl."

I glanced up into his dark chocolate eyes, so much like Ranger's now that I had the connection. "Why do you call him Ranger? I always expected his family to call him Carlos."

Lester laughed gently. "They do. And I call him Carlos when we're with family." He was quiet for several moments, deep in thought.

I closed my eyes.

"He earned the name Ranger," Lester said after awhile. "He was a Ranger for almost six years. Youngest Ranger in a real long time. He was a damn fine Captain."

I opened my eyes and glanced up at him. "You were in the army with him?"

Les nodded. "I joined up a couple of years after him when I got out of school. I became a Ranger two years before he got out. Tank was there too, and Bobby."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Another guy we served with, Tommy, runs Rangeman Boston." He ran his hand up and down my arm, rubbing warmth back into it. I was actually feeling a little better. Lester was good company.

"Who runs Miami?" I asked to distract myself some more.

"Ranger's brother, Mario. We had an outside guy running Atlanta, but Ranger wanted to focus more on the other three, so he sold out last year."

"Ranger's brother's name is Mario?" I asked, tucking my head closer to Lester's side. I was finally able to relax. The sniffles and the shaking had stopped completely now.

"Yeah. Didn't he tell you about the family?"

I shrugged. "I know about Celia, that's about it."

Les chuckled. "Ceels. Helluva woman. She's second oldest. She's always on Ranger's case to find a girl. She wants to see him happy."

"Can you tell me about the rest of your family?" I asked. "Do you think Ranger would mind?"

Lester seemed to think on it for a moment. "You know what? I don't care if he does. They're my family, too. I can tell you if I want to."

"I don't want to cause a fight," I said, raising my head to look at him.

He tucked me back into his side. "Don't worry about it, beautiful. Now, where to start? I'm an only child," he told me, "so I spent a lot of time over at Tía Concha's house. That's Ranger's mother, Conseula, Concha for short."

I nodded for him to go on.

"Ranger's dad is Ricardo. That's why Ranger goes by Carlos. He's the oldest, Ranger is, so he was named after his dad."

I nodded. I'd known that much.

"Then, like I said, there's Celia. After her is Liliana. She and I are the same age."

I peeked up at him.

"Twenty-seven," he told me with a smile. "Mario is next, then Elisa, and Rosita, the baby."

"The baby?" I asked.

"Well." He shrugged. "She's twenty-one, so not really a baby anymore, but…"

"Ranger said you guys grew up in Miami?"

"Yeah. We lived right down the street from each other."

"How did you end up back here?" I asked.

"Ranger's family moved back when Abuelo got sick. Abuela needed the help and Tía Concha wanted to be close. My dad had a steady business down in Miami so we stayed. When I got out of high school I joined the service. I never got proof, but I'm pretty sure Ranger pulled some strings to get me into his unit."

"Sounds like something Ranger would do," I muttered.

Lester laughed.

"Yeah. Anyway, we got real close to Bobby and Tank and Tommy while we were over there, learned to watch each other's backs, to trust each other with our lives. When Ranger got out and decided to start up Rangeman, we all jumped at the opportunity. What else were we going to do? The only kind of training we had was from the army. At first it was just Tank and Ranger, that's why Tank's second in command. The rest of us joined a year later when we got out. The company grew quickly and in a year we had the Miami and Boston offices. Atlanta came a year after that."

"If Tank's second," I said. "Who's third?"

Lester laughed softly and ruffled my hair. "I am, bombshell."

I nodded.

"Does that curb your curiosity for today?"

"For today," I said.

"Good."

"Thanks, Les. For helping me get to know him. And for distracting me."

He kissed me on the top of the head and moved off the couch. "Anytime, beautiful. That cousin of mine better watch himself, or I might just move in on him."

I swallowed hard. "Ranger doesn't want me. He has…"

Lester laughed loudly. "Right, bombshell, and I'm Catwoman." He waved and let himself out of my apartment.

* * *

An hour later my cell phone rang.

"Stephanie?" My mother said. "You have to come over here, right now. Your grandmother is…she's…"

"Tell her I need the Buick," I heard my grandmother yell in the background.

"Mother, really…"

"Liam's going to drive," Grandma said. "Don't fret, Helen."

"I'll be right over," I told my mom. Anything to distract me from my problems.

My mother was waiting for me at the door when I pulled up.

"Oh, good, you're here. You have to do something." I followed her into the living room where Grandma was sitting on Liam's lap. Holy crow.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're getting hitched," Grandma said with a huge grin. Her teeth looked like they might pop out of her mouth. Mom looked like she was about to faint.

"They're going to Atlantic City," my mom gasped. I forced her down into a chair and nodded for her to continue. "They say they're going to get married. Oh heaven, what will the neighbors think? No wedding, just running off to…"

"Maybe they'll think he knocked me up," Grandma said, waggling her eyebrows.

My mom's eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped back in the chair.

Dad peered over from the recliner. "She okay?"

"Yeah, dad, she's fine, just a little overwhelmed."

He nodded and went back to his television show.

I looked over at Grandma and Liam looking cozy and sickeningly happy on the sofa. "You really want to get married?" I asked them.

Grandma nodded.

"I love your Grannie, sweetie. I want to spend the rest of my life with her," Liam said earnestly.

"He's got his own house," my dad said without looking away from the TV.

I sighed. I fished the keys to Big Blue out of my purse and tossed them to Liam.

"You've got a license, right?"

He nodded.

"Good. Then go. I'll take care of mom."

Grandma hopped off of Liam so quickly that I thought she was going to hurt herself. She threw her bony arms around my waist and squeezed.

"Thanks, kid." She looked up at me and winked. "You know you're my favorite, right?"

I laughed and squeezed her back. "I know, Grandma. Congratulations."

Liam took Grandma from me and leaned over to kiss me on the head.

"You guys be careful," I told them at the door.

"We will," Grandma promised. "And while we're gone, maybe you should do something about getting that Bounty Hunter with the nice package. I really liked him, you know."

I nodded, tears pricking the backs of my eyelids, and watched them drive off in Big Blue. I really liked him too, Grandma.

Mom was coming around when I got back into the house.

"Where did…who…what…"

"They left," I told her.

She gasped and jumped up from the chair, only to fall back into it.

"Listen to me, mom." I crouched down in front of her and caught her eyes. "Grandma is a grown woman….very grown… Anyway, you can see that they love each other," I said quietly. "It's in their eyes. I think they know what they're doing, mom."

She was about to reply when my cell phone rang, the Batman theme song. I closed my eyes and reached into my purse for my phone. He'd found out about Lester's story telling. He was sending me away to Turkmenistan. Or, no, he really was a Man in Black and he was going to use his memory thingy on me.

"Yo," I said into the phone.

"Babe."

I stood up and walked into the kitchen and out the back door.

"What's up, Ranger?"

He was quiet for a long moment. This wasn't about Lester. This was something Ranger thought was much more serious.

"Who is she?" I asked, proud that my voice only cracked once.

"Babe."

"Ranger."

"Where are you?"

I ran a shaky hand back through my hair. "I'm at my parents'."

"I'll pick you up in five," he told me, then he disconnected.

I shut my phone and shoved it in my pocket. I couldn't even work up a good eye roll. I walked into the living room and found my mom and dad sitting together on the couch. They looked up as I entered the room.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked my mom.

She nodded slowly. "Yes, yes I think so."

"Good," I said. "Because I have to go."

"You need a ride, honey?" Dad asked me, starting to get up.

"No, dad," I assured him. "Ranger's coming." I thought about it for a moment, then decided I might as well get it over with now. "I'm breaking up with Joe tonight."

My mother opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. "I'm not arguing about this, mom. You're going to have to trust me. I'll call tomorrow and explain." And I would, I realized. I wasn't going to avoid my family this time, I wanted them to hear the story straight from me, not from Mrs. Morkowitz's daughter's husband's mistress's hairdresser's handyman.

I bid them goodnight and stepped outside just in time to see the Cayenne glide to a stop in front of the house.

"Do you have a schedule drawn up on which car you're going to drive on which days?" I asked as I climbed into the vehicle. I was trying to lighten the mood but Ranger wasn't having it.

"Where do you want to do this, Stephanie?"

"Not here," I said. "Just go park somewhere."

In the end, we parked at the back of the mall lot, empty spaces all around us. Ranger turned and reached into the back seat. He grabbed a manila colored envelope and set it on his lap.

"You sure you want to know, Steph?" He wasn't calling me 'babe'. Strangely enough, that made me more nervous than anything else.

I nodded.

He squeezed the little metal bracket things and opened the envelope. Then he reached in and pulled out a set of pictures. He handed them to me.

I glanced down and my heart stopped. Terry Gilman I could have handled. Hell, I probably could have gotten past Joyce Barnhardt. But this?

"I'm sorry, babe," I heard Ranger say but I was too focused on the pictures in my hand.

There was Joe, his back to the camera, and smushed up between him and the wall was Jeanne Ellen Burrows. Their lips were glued together, his hand was shoved unceremoniously up her shirt, and one of her immeasurably long legs was wrapped around his waist.

I threw the picture at Ranger and closed my eyes. I definitely did not need to see the rest.

"She was the only one," Ranger told me.

All I could do was nod. What was this feeling bubbling up inside my chest? I was hurt, oh yes, definitely hurt. We'd dated for three years, how dare he go out and fuck someone else? There was anger, loads and loads of anger. Guilt I hadn't expected, but there it was. Was it really any different than what I had with Ranger? The alley outside the bonds office could attest to just about what I'd seen in that picture. Mostly, though, I felt relief. It was horrible, but I was really glad to have this as a concrete excuse to end the relationship. I had been so afraid that if I was alone after the breakup I might get weak and go back to him again. There was no chance of that now.

"Why _her_?" I asked aloud. "He hates my job. Why would he want her?"

I could feel Ranger's eyes boring into me but he remained silent.

"It's because she's good at it," I answered myself. "She doesn't give him indigestion. He doesn't have to worry about her blowing up cars or getting gang raped." I blinked rapidly to hold back the tears. They weren't tears of sadness over losing Joe. I was crying because I was inferior, never good enough. I'd always be second rate.

I felt Ranger move, then his hand was under my chin, turning me to look at him. "_You_ are good at it, Stephanie. What Burrows has is a learned skill: intimidation. She shoves her way in, grabs her man and shoves her way back out. You've got talent." His dark eyes had me pinned to the seat, I could barely breath for their intensity. "You've got more intuition, better instincts, more connections and resources, than any man or woman I've ever worked with."

I shivered as his eyes caressed me. "With a little bit of training, Stephanie, you could be ten times better then Burrows. Morelli is a fucking idiot."

I let my eyes fall closed and for a moment I leaned against Ranger's hand. Then I made myself pull away and look at him.

"The trade," I said. "It was me for Jeanne Ellen."

Ranger laughed once. "Jokes on him," he said. "Burrows hasn't been mine to trade for about four years now. If Morelli thought she was with me and screwing him on the side, he doesn't know me very well."

I turned away from him to look out the window. Okay, so Ranger wasn't seeing Jeanne Ellen Burrows…but Joe was. I could handle this…I think. But, then, I was sure Ranger was seeing _someone_. I shook my head. One catastrophe at a time, Plum.

"Will you drive me to his house?" I said quietly. Then I turned to look at him. His eyes were black and unreadable. "I could ask my dad if you don't want…"

"I'll do it."

He started the engine and drove out of the mall lot. We were parked in front of Morelli's house fifteen minutes later. I took a deep breath and turned to Ranger. His face was unreadable in the fading light.

"Do you want me to wait?" He asked, his voice low and even.

All I could do was blink at him. It wasn't even ESP this time because I hadn't been aware that's what I wanted until he'd asked. I nodded.

"Would you?"

"Of course."

I wanted him to call me 'babe'. I wanted him to smile and tell me to 'go get 'em, tiger'. I wanted to forget about his other woman and climb into his arms and just stay there forever. Instead, I turned away from him and got out of the car.

All the way up the walk I wondered what I was going to do if Jeanne Ellen was in there now. I'd probably smack her in the face and she'd flick me across the room like a gnat. At least Ranger was here to take me to the hospital.

My fears were unfounded. Joe answered the door alone, completely dressed, and looking like he'd been expecting me. His eyes scanned the street, rested on Ranger's car for a moment, then flicked back to me.

"Come in, cupcake."

I almost told him not to call me 'cupcake', but I figured that could wait until after the confrontation.

He led me into the living room and took a seat on the couch.

"What's up, cupcake?" He sounded tired, resigned.

I decided just to jump right into it. "Did you think I wouldn't find out, Joe?"

He stared up at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Abou…about what?" He finally managed to sputter. It was pathetic.

"Don't bother lying, Joe. I've seen the pictures." I sat down in the armchair across from him. "Jeanne Ellen, Joe? Really?"

His face crumpled and he put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, cupcake. I'm so sorry."

"Do not call me that," I ordered. "You've lost the right."

He picked his head up and his eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'm sorry, _babe._ Is that better? Is that what I should call you now? No, wait, that's what _he_ calls you, isn't it?" He smiled, a twisting of his lips. It was almost a sneer.

"You were going to trade me to him? Me for _her_."

"I figured as long as he's getting the benefits, he might as well accept full responsibility for you. It was just luck that he had something I wanted in return."

I sucked in a breath.

"He doesn't _have_ her. They haven't been together for years," I shouted. "It was a sick joke and you know it."

He smiled; an angry, sick impersonation of the Joe-smile I loved. "There was no way I was hiding it from him, not after he was already suspicious. The man has ways of finding out just about anything. I figured I might as well put it in terms he'd understand. You know, him being a mercenary and all."

I curled my hand up into a ball and reigned back on the urge to punch him in the eye. "Don't you dare bring him into this. This has nothing to do with him."

"Doesn't it?" Joe sneered. "Because I wasn't the first to cheat, Stephanie. You've been doing it with Manoso for awhile."

"I've never cheated on you with Ranger," I gasped.

"Don't _you_ lie to _me_, Stephanie, because I've seen you. In the alley by the bonds office, at your apartment, hell, at a fucking crime scene. I know you slept with him when we were broken up. I don't know how many times, but I really would rather it stayed that way. I know he wasn't sleeping on the floor during the Scrog fiasco. I see the way you two look at each other; like you're hoping no one would notice if you suddenly tore each other's clothes off."

All I could do was stare at him. He was right. Every single thing he had said had been the truth. I looked down at my shoes.

"I'm sorry, Joe. I…I guess we've both known for awhile that we aren't meant to be. I can't even really blame you for the Jeanne Ellen thing. I just…" I looked up to find him watching me. "I just wish you'd told me it was over. You didn't need to hide her, Joe. You could have just told me and started a relationship with her. I would have understood."

"You could have done the same with Manoso," Joe said softly.

I laughed wryly. "Ranger doesn't do relationships. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's seeing someone else. Not that it's any of my business."

Joe sighed. "I'm sorry…"

He was interrupted by a loud crash from the backyard. We were both up and running to the kitchen. Joe threw open the back door and there was Ranger, on the ground wrestling with a man I didn't know.

Ranger did some crazy kick twist thing, and he was on top, pinning the other guy to the ground.

"What the hell is going on?" Joe shouted.

"Ask Stephanie's stalker," Ranger said.

"I was coming to console her," the guy cried in the voice from my answering machine. "She needs a man in her life."

I heard Ranger mutter something about 'too many men', then he rolled off the guy and hauled him to his feet.

"Stephanie," the guy said when he spotted me. "I'm so glad you came to your senses. He's a pig. Did you get it? A pig. That's what he is, so that's what I sent you. He doesn't deserve you."

The guy was tall and thin with wire-framed glasses and a mop of red hair.

"And who does?" I asked. "You?"

His eyes widened and he glanced from Ranger to Joe to me. "Well…I mean…"

Ranger's eyes found mine. "You done here?"

I looked back at Joe. Yeah, we were pretty done, alright.

"Yeah."

"Good," he said.

He handed the stalker off to Morelli and took my arm instead. "Then I'll leave that to you," he said, nodding from the stalker to Joe. "And we'll get out of the way."

I let Ranger tug me around the house and help me into the car.

"You okay?" He asked me once we were cocooned in the warm blackness. The light from the dashboard threw strange shadows over his face, making it harder than usual for me to read him.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

He started the car and pulled into the street. It wasn't until we were halfway to my apartment before I realized something.

"You didn't even hit him," I said to Ranger.

"Shit," Ranger said slamming his hand down on the steering wheel. "I knew there was something I forgot."

I looked over at him. He was smiling all 200 watts. Ranger humor.

"Babe, if I was going to beat the crap out of Morelli, I wouldn't do it with you there. If you don't see it, you can't prove I did it." He winked at me.

I found myself smiling right along with him.

"I've got to get to a job," he told me once he'd pulled into my lot. "You going to be okay alone tonight?"

I nodded. I had been half-hoping that he'd stay. But if he did, I'd never be able to get him out of my heart, and he wasn't mine to keep. Besides, the more distance we maintained at the moment, the less chance I'd break down and declare something I'd later regret. My mouth had already gotten me into enough trouble where Ranger was concerned. For once, I was glad that he was Mr. Mysterious; it seemed he was willing to forget that my tantrum earlier had even happened.

"I could always send Santos over for a bedtime story," he said with a slight grin.

I grimaced. "He told you?"

Ranger nodded.

"Are you mad?"

He turned to face me fully. "No, babe, I'm not mad. I trust you. I would have told you all of that myself if you'd asked."

I didn't believe that for a second, but I nodded anyway.

"Can we get breakfast tomorrow?" He asked. "I want to talk to you."

Translation: I want to tell you all about my new girl. Shit.

"Sure, is 9:00 okay?"

He nodded. "I'll pick you up."

"Goodnight, Ranger."

He leaned past me and opened my door. Then he brushed a kiss across my forehead.

"Night, babe."

I climbed out of the car and made my way up to my apartment. I went to the window and waved down at him, then watched him drive away.

* * *

A/N: _looks sheepish_ Don't hate me! I think Ranger might make up for his stupidity in the next chapter...well, we can hope so anyway...

Let me know what you thought!


	8. Overwhelmed

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: First and foremost, thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Really sorry for all the cliffies lately. I wasn't going to post this until tomorrow, but I've got a lot of homework to do tomorrow _and_ I'm working (oh yeah, and I felt a little bad), so here it is. Enjoy!

* * *

It was only about ten o'clock when Ranger dropped me off, so I took a shower, heated up a can of Spaghetti-o's and called Mary Lou. I hadn't talked to her in a few days and I really needed my best girlfriend after the night I'd had.

"Hey, Mare," I said when she answered. "Are the kids in bed?"

"Oh yeah. I had Lenny put them to bed an hour ago. Mommy needs some quiet time."

I laughed halfheartedly. "I'm not interrupting anything with Lenny, am I?"

"Steph, would I have answered if you were? Lenny's in the other room watching that new shoot 'em up movie. He's only allowed to watch them once the kids are in bed."

"Good."

"Steph, are you okay? You sound a little down."

I sighed and filled her in on the whole Morelli mess; the realizations I'd come to regarding our relationship, the cheating, the blow-up tonight. I even told her about the stalker.

"You sound kind of relieved that it was Morelli and not Ranger," she remarked once I'd finished.

I hesitated before answering honestly. "I guess I am. I already knew it was over, I guess this was just the final nail in the coffin."

"And Ranger?" Mary Lou asked.

I took a deep breath. "I'm pretty sure he's seeing someone," I admitted. "Besides, he doesn't do relationships." I snorted. "At least not with me."

Mary Lou was silent for a moment. "You're pretty sure?" She asked.

"Umm, yeah."

"So you don't know."

"No, I guess not."

"My best friend advice here: don't jump to conclusions. Do you want a relationship with him?"

I didn't know what I wanted with him. I loved him, I wanted to be with him, but I wasn't sure what that meant in Ranger-land. I told Mary Lou this, leaving out the love part.

"Maybe you should just talk to him," Mare said.

"He wants to have breakfast tomorrow and talk," I told her. "He probably just wants to tell me about his new girl and ask me to back off so she won't get jealous."

"Stephanie," she sighed. "Just talk to the man. The worst that can happen is that he proves you right. What's the best that can happen?"

I contemplated the answer to that question an hour later as I lay in bed unable to sleep. The best that could happen would be that Batman realized he loved me back and wanted a relationship with me. I didn't really care what kind of relationship. I didn't particularly want a ring, so that wouldn't be an issue. All I really wanted was love and respect and commitment. If I got a few Ranger-induced orgasms in the process, so be it.

I rolled over and stared at the wall. But Ranger was with someone else and he didn't want me. That one night had been about convenience. I had been a warm, willing body and Ranger had finally given in to temptation. He'd obviously gotten over his infatuation, however, because he hadn't been back. _Would you have let him?_ Logical Stephanie asked. No. I'd been with Joe. And emotional entanglement with Ranger scared the hell out of me. Because it _would_ be emotional. There was no way I could ever have casual sex with Ranger, there was just too much at stake now; our friendship, our working relationship, my heart.

He loved me…in his own way. There were all kinds of love, after all. This kind of love came with a condom, not a ring. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the consideration, and I didn't want a ring anyway, but…it did hurt. It didn't feel like condom-love to me.

I was entertainment; a line-item on his budget. He kept me around for shits and giggles. That had hurt a little, too. I mean, it wasn't the worst thing ever to be a source of happiness for him and his men, but I'd been hoping I was more than that. _He never said you weren't_, Logical Stephanie cut in. I guess he hadn't. And he was a man of few words. His actions said that I was more. Did you give cars to or walk in front of a bullet for entertainment?

He'd sent me back to Morelli. That had been the biggest hurt of all. I wasn't so self-absorbed to think that he'd hurt me on purpose. Ranger might be good at reading people, but I just couldn't make myself believe that he'd known sending me back would be like a knife in my heart. How could he know that I was already emotionally attached? How could he know that I'd been secretly harboring the hope that he'd want me for his own, to keep?

I sighed and rolled back over. Most of the issues here were caused by lack of communication. But how did you communicate with the master of one word sentences? That was one question I'd yet to find an answer to. Maybe I'd take Mary Lou's advice, maybe I'd…

Something dark passed behind my curtains. My heart skipped a beat, then began pounding. Someone was on my fire escape. I took a few seconds to debate the merits of screaming, decided that it'd be counterproductive really, and jumped silently out of bed. I crept across the room, as far from the window as possible, and hurried out into the living room. I crossed the room at a silent run and headed for the kitchen. My gun was in my cookie jar where I'd left it. I'd emptied it after that night I'd spent alone worrying about piggy feet. The bullets were in a drawer by the sink. I should really start listening to Ranger and keep my gun loaded.

I heard a light tapping on the glass from the bedroom and my hands shook as I loaded my gun. There were a few more taps, then silence. I stood there in my kitchen, absolutely quaking with fear, for about fifteen minutes. There were no other sounds from the bedroom.

One foot in front of the other, I told myself as I made my way back to the bedroom, gun held out in front of me. I flicked the light on and swung back and forth, looking for monsters in the shadows. The room was empty. The curtains were still closed, so I stepped to one side of the window and slowly pulled them back. I took a deep breath and peered out the window. Probably I was being stupid, probably it was just the wind. Probably I was going to get shot and Ranger was going stand up at my funeral and say 'Well, I _told_ her to be more aware of her surroundings.'

There was no one on my fire escape. What was on my fire escape seemed so out of place I almost laughed. Sitting there, innocently in the middle of the platform, was a margarita in a little crystal glass, complete with salt and lime.

I slumped down onto the floor. I thought I'd just gotten rid of my stalker. This was too much. There was usually at least a week break between catastrophes. I let out a laugh, then another. I was pretty sure I was hysterical, but I didn't know what to do about it. I knew I needed to call someone. I mean, a person leaving an alcoholic beverage on your fire escape isn't normal, is it? I hated to admit that I had no idea what normal was anymore.

I glanced at the clock. 11:57. Probably Ranger's job was over by now, right? Because I suddenly found myself optionless when it came to who to call in case of emergency. Joe had been taken off my I.C.E. list indefinitely.

I wasn't sure I wanted to see Ranger right now either, but the hysteria was receding and the fear was trickling in, cold and menacing.

I retrieved my cell phone from the night stand and pressed number one.

The phone rang three times before he picked up.

"Yo," he whispered.

"Yo yourself."

"Babe, what do you need?" He was speaking quietly, like he was trying not to wake someone. My heart clenched uncomfortably.

"I…I'm sorry. I just…It's nothing. I'll let you get back to…"

"Babe," he said softly. "You wouldn't have called at midnight for nothing. Now what's wrong?"

I gulped in a few deep breaths. Now that the shock was wearing off, I was shaking again. "I…I don't really know. There was a…a shadow on my fire escape, so I got up and got my gun and…"

I heard him speaking softly to someone, then he was back. "I'm sending someone over, Steph. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Oh, God. This was so wrong. He was with another woman and I was calling him to…

"Babe, are you there?"

"Yeah."

"Did you check your fire escape?"

"Yes."

"What was on it?" He sounded like he was expecting something awful, something like a dead body or an axe murderer.

"A margarita," I told him.

"A…a what?"

"A margarita. With a little slice of lime in it."

He was silent for a moment. "Lester and Bobby should be there any minute." Batman had nothing to say about the alcoholic beverage on my fire escape.

I peeked out the window, trying my hardest to ignore the drink. Lester and Bobby were climbing out of a black Explorer.

"They're here," I told Ranger.

"Check the peep hole before you let them in. I'll be there soon." Then he hung up.

* * *

Five minutes later, Bobby, Lester and I were staring out my bedroom window.

"Damn, bombshell, I know you're hot, but can't they at least wait till you get to the bar to start buying you drinks?" Lester said.

I rolled my eyes at him.

Bobby looked like he was going to laugh, then he looked behind us and his face sobered. I knew it was nothing dangerous, because his hand hadn't moved to his gun. I'd also started feeling the telltale tingles about a half a minute ago.

"Santos," Ranger growled.

Lester spun around, hand flying to his gun before he realized who was speaking.

"Jesus, Ranger, you trying to get shot?"

Ranger's eyes twinkled with mirth. "You couldn't shoot me if you had me tied to a pole with a target taped to my forehead."

Lester's mouth opened to retort, but Ranger's attention had shifted to me, and Lester shut his mouth again, clearly deciding that the moment had passed.

"You okay?" Ranger asked, placing a hand lightly on the nape of my neck and pulling me closer. He peered into my eyes. "Looking a little crazy there, babe."

"I think I might be a bit hysterical," I told him. The shaking had calmed as soon as Lester and Bobby had showed up, but the hysteria was still there lingering beneath the surface. "I thought we got rid of the stalker. I'm sorry I interrupted your night." I left the statement at that, I wasn't exactly sure what I'd interrupted.

Ranger placed a soft kiss on my forehead. "It's okay, babe. Ram and Cal took over the stakeout for Tank and I."

I closed my eyes and leaned into his chest. Tank. He'd been with Tank.

He kissed the top of my head and tucked me under his arm.

"So, what do we have?" He asked Bobby.

"It's a margarita, boss. Or, at least, that's what it appears to be."

Ranger's hand was stroking slowly up and down my arm and it was doing nothing to calm me. In fact, it was stirring my Hungarian hormones into quite the frenzy.

"Anyone been on the platform yet?" Ranger asked.

"Negative, boss," Bobby answered.

Ranger squeezed me one more time, then set me down on the bed. Ranger plus me plus bed equals….I think I had a hot flash. Then I remembered Bobby and Lester.

"Babe," Ranger whispered against the top of my head.

He stepped away from me and went to the window. The rest of us watched as he opened it and stuck his head out. He looked up, then down. Apparently, he didn't find anything worth mentioning, because he said nothing until he was standing on the fire escape, hands on hips, staring down at the drink. He shook his head slowly, an almost-smile tipping his lips up at the corners.

"You never disappoint, babe."

He reached down and picked the drink up carefully, then handed it through the window to Bobby.

"Get that back to Haywood. I want the lab to test a sample first thing in the morning."

Bobby nodded. "You want us to give it to the cops after that?"

Ranger didn't answer. He was staring down at something by his feet.

"Ranger?" Lester said. "You want the cops to have this, man?"

Ranger shook his head. "No." He reached down and picked something up. It was white. It looked like a piece of paper. Then he held it up in the light pouring from my window. It was a cocktail napkin printed with the Marriot logo. "No. No cops." He handed the napkin to Lester and climbed back through the window.

"Shit," Les said. He handed it to me.

On the back of the napkin, in black marker, was a note:

_I know you're not just some whore. You're his whore. You'll both pay. _

I didn't notice the dizziness until I was half-lying, half-sitting on my bed, the note on the floor in front of me.

"Babe." Ranger was across the room in a second, kneeling down in front of me. He pushed my head between my knees.

"Push against my hand," he told me.

I did as he said and felt the dizziness recede, only to be replaced by a nauseous roiling in my stomach.

I shoved myself out from under his hand and ran past the three guys to the bathroom.

Ranger found me ten minutes later sitting on the edge of the tub with a cool washcloth to my forehead.

"You okay, babe?"

I nodded. "Just a little overwhelmed. First, the Joe thing, then catching the other stalker, now this." I wasn't sure how much more I could take.

He sat beside me on the edge of the tub and rubbed the back of my neck gently.

"At least we know who this guy is. We'll find him, babe. I promise." He kissed me just above my ear and I leaned into his touch. "Are you ready to go back in the other room?" He whispered.

"Yeah, I think so."

We came out into the living room to find Tank propped up in the doorway to the kitchen and Lester sitting on the couch.

"Bobby took the drink and the note back to Rangeman," Ranger said from close beside me. "We need to discuss your options."

I glanced up at him. "Options?"

One side of his lips tipped up. "Yeah, babe, options."

"What options?"

"About where you're going to stay, babe."

I began to protest, but he placed a finger to my lips. "Just listen for a minute, Steph." His eyes pleaded with me, though he didn't speak the magic word.

I nodded.

"Option one, you can stay here," he said, his eyes flashed black as he added, "with me."

I swallowed hard.

"Option two, you can stay here with Rangeman guards. Option three, you can stay at Rangeman with me, or you can stay on 4."

God, how did he expect me to choose? I had a brief thought that if this had been Joe, there wouldn't have been options, he would have dragged me to his house and locked me in the bedroom. I appreciated that Ranger was letting me choose, but these choices were impossible. Of course I wanted to stay with him. I'd have heavenly sheets, a god-like man, and Ella's cooking. But I couldn't risk my heart. What if his girlfriend showed up? What if she had left something there and I came across it? What if he said her name in his sleep? I cringed inwardly. But why would he have invited me there in the first place if there was a chance of his girl showing up? I was almost certain that Ranger would be faithful in a relationship, and while I would make sure that nothing happened, he wouldn't take the risk that she would find out. I didn't know what to think anymore. What I really needed right now was to be alone with my convoluted feelings.

"I'd like to stay here," I told the room in general. I felt Ranger's hand tighten on the nape of my neck. "Alone," I clarified.

It was silent for a few moments. Tank was looking determinedly uninterested, but Lester was staring quite openly at Ranger, probably anticipating some sort of argument.

"Alright," Ranger said. His voice was low and flat. I squirmed against his hand. "I'll put men in front and in the back parking lot." He stepped away from me and walked into the kitchen to make a call.

"You sure you want to be alone tonight, beautiful?" Lester asked from the couch.

I looked down at him. Of course I didn't want to be alone, but I needed to figure out what was going on in my head before I could have any kind of discussion with Ranger. I needed to prepare myself for the inevitable. Batman wasn't mine, and he never would be.

"Yes," I said.

Ranger came back into the room then. "Manny and Zero are out front, Hector's in the lot. You've got their numbers, call them if anything happens."

He nodded his head at Tank and Lester. Tank left with a quiet "Night, Bombshell."

Lester stood from the couch and walked over to me. "Take care, beautiful." He kissed the top of my head, then turned and walked past Ranger and out the door.

I couldn't look at Ranger. I was afraid that if I did, I'd break down and ask him to stay.

"Babe," he said quietly as he walked towards me. "You sure you don't want me to stay?" There was a hint of seduction in his voice. I couldn't look up into his eyes to see if they were black with desire or not. He shouldn't be looking at me like that when he had a girlfriend, anyway.

"I'm sure, Ranger."

A strong, warm finger under my chin tilted my head up and suddenly I was looking him straight in the face. His eyes were a soft, chocolate brown.

"We're still having breakfast," he told me. "I'll let you sleep in. How's ten?"

I nodded, unable to pull myself out of the depths of his eyes. My chin tingled where he still touched it.

He leaned down and placed a slow, gentle kiss across my lips. "Call me." His lips met mine again. "If you need _anything_." He pulled me against him and kissed me tenderly; a kiss filled with comfort and longing and…I wasn't going to go there.

"I will," I whispered as he pulled back.

He tangled his hand in my hair and brought our foreheads together. "Be safe," he said, then he pulled away, smiled gently at me, and disappeared, magically locking the door behind him. Batman.

* * *

Come on, Stephanie, there's no one in your apartment. Your fire escape is psycho-free. The Merry Men are guarding you. You're fine.

I'd repeated this to myself about a hundred times since Ranger left, but I still couldn't sleep. I was jumpy and anxious and I kept hearing noises. First, it had been Rex running on his wheel, so I'd brought him into the bedroom. Then, it had been the motor in the refrigerator, so I'd unplugged it. Next, it had been the leaky faucet in the bathroom. I'd tried to find a wrench to attempt to fix it, but I'd never owned one, so I wasn't sure why I'd even looked.

Every light in the apartment was on, because I kept seeing Edwin Mortars in the shadows, green eyes glowing like those of a demon. I contemplated calling Ranger about six times, but every time I convinced myself that he was probably busy with something…or someone…else.

_He told you to call him_, Logical Stephanie said. _He knows I won't_, Stupid Stephanie replied, sticking out her tongue.

I went into the living room and turned on the TV, hoping that it would distract me, but the first thing to pop up was Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so I switched it back off. No way was that going to help me.

I walked into the, now silent, kitchen. It was then that I finally looked at my refrigerator. Only it wasn't my refrigerator. It was one of those new-fangled silver contraptions with the water and ice dispenser on the door and the freezer drawer underneath. I tiptoed over to it and pulled the door open. It was full of food. Milk and eggs and bread, grapes and carrots and cucumbers. I pulled out the freezer drawer; four different kinds of Ben and Jerry's. Two guesses who filled my refrigerator. Only Ranger would give me rabbit food. I wanted to cry at the fact that he'd been thoughtful enough to include ice cream. I let out a small sigh and plugged the refrigerator back in, no reason to let all that food go to waste. I'd just feed all the vegetables to Rex.

I had my head in the fridge, looking for something edible when the locks tumbled on my door. I glanced over at it in alarm. The security chain was undone. I'd never replaced it after Ranger had left. I was about to lunge for the cookie jar when the door opened. I didn't think, I threw myself across the small space and grabbed the guy around the waist. He made a low "oof" sound and grabbed me by the arms. No way was I letting this guy get me without a fight. I struggled to pull my arms from his grasp, but he wasn't letting go. He pushed me into the wall and melded his body to mine.

"Stephanie."

I tried to get my knee back far enough to kick him in the boys, but he had me pinned.

"Steph."

I was shaking now, and the tremors were making me weak. He was just so strong. Where was Hector? Where were Manny and Zero?

"Babe, it's me," the man said.

I froze in my struggles and looked up into Ranger's worried brown eyes. His grip loosened on my arms and he ran his hands down to mine.

"It's just me, babe. You're okay."

I fell forward and sobbed into his shirt. His arms came around me and he held me so tight against his chest that he might have been trying to pull me inside of him.

"Shhh, I've got you. You're fine, bebé. I'm here. I'm right here." His hands stroked my hair, my back, every inch of me that he could reach. I clutched his shirt in my fists and kept my face buried in his shoulder.

I felt the world tip and realized that he'd scooped me up in his arms. He moved us through the apartment, flicking off lights as he went.

"Wha…what are you doing?" I managed to sniffle.

"We're going to bed, babe. You're done in."

He settled me gently on the bed, then stepped back to take off his shoes and t-shirt. Once he was settled beside me, he pulled me into him and nuzzled my hair.

"Why are you here, Ranger?" I asked, not really caring why, just rejoicing in the fact that he was.

"Hector called and told me that every light in the place was on. He'd seen you walk by the window about six times. I was worried, babe."

I was silent for a moment. The feeling of Ranger so warm and solid against my back was already lulling me into a feeling of safety and contentment. "Did he tell you in Spanish?"

I felt him smile against my hair. "Sí, bebé, en español."

I wasn't sure what he'd just said, but the soft cadences of his voice washed over me and my eyes drooped a bit. Maybe I shouldn't have Ranger teach me Spanish. Probably understanding it would ruin the sweet beauty of the language. Or maybe it was just Ranger's voice.

"I couldn't sleep," I told him quietly.

"I know, babe. I'm here now, sleep."

I wanted to tell him that he was an arrogant jerk for thinking that his presence would allow me to sleep, but I was already slipping into unconsciousness.

"Ranger," I whispered into his chest.

"Babe."

"Thanks for the refrigerator."

I could hear the smile in his voice as he replied. "Babe."

* * *

A/N: Ta-da! For anyone who's confused: Yes, there is a second stalker. Yes, they're pretty sure it's Edwin Mortars. Yes, Edwin Mortars was the bad guy who Steph lured up to a hotel room for Ranger. Yes, you can go back and read chapter 2 (aptly titled Distracted) if you don't remember him. Yes, you'll have to wait some more for "the talk". Yes, you're allowed to hate me now. Yes! Spanish!Ranger is hot! Plenty more of him to come ;)

Let me know what you thought!

Translation:

"Sí, bebé, en español."

"Yes, babe, in Spanish."


	9. Left

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Okay, so someone (can't remember who, sorry) said that they were going to hold their breath until Steph and Ranger had their 'talk'. I wouldn't want to be responsible for that tragic asphyxiation, so here you go!

* * *

I was sitting on my fire escape, enjoying a nice margarita. The sun was shining, the smog was smogging, then suddenly the platform of my fire escape was floating in midair. I looked up: Nothing. I looked below me: Air, and far, far below, hard, black asphalt. I turned to the window, frantic to get off of the floating platform. It was locked. Locked? How would I lock it when I was outside? How in the hell was I going to get down?

"Cupcake!"

I peered cautiously over the edge. Joe was standing below me on the ground. He looked about three miles away.

"Jump to me, cupcake. I'll catch you."

His arms were extended to me. He looked solid and strong. My Joe. I prepared to jump. I was one step away from the edge of the platform when Joe turned away from me. I watched, awestruck, my foot trembling over the edge, as Jeanne Ellen threw herself into Joe's arms and attached her mouth to his.

My arms flailed, my breath caught, I was falling. Then suddenly, I stopped falling. Warm, strong hands grasped me around the waist and hauled me back onto the platform.

"Come on, babe. I've got you. Just climb through the window."

I turned around to tell him that it was locked, but there was Ranger, leaning out the open window, his arms extended to me.

"Come on, babe."

I took a step towards him. There was a high, feminine giggle from inside and Ranger's dark eyes flashed behind him, then back to me.

Oh, God, no.

I stumbled back and I was falling, falling. Down and down and down, until I landed in strong, warm arms.

I opened my eyes and looked up into the too-green gaze of Edwin Mortars. I screamed.

The scream was still on my lips as I sprang up in bed. Oh God, only a dream. I had just enough time to register the fact that I was alone in the bed when Ranger flew into the room, gun drawn. His quick eyes surveyed the room.

"Babe, are you okay?"

I nodded, sucking in deep breaths.

"Why did you scream?"

I had screamed out loud?

Ranger came to sit beside me on the bed. He placed a hand on each side of my face and peered into my eyes.

"Babe?"

"I…I had a dream," I said, scooting unconsciously closer. "A nightmare."

Ranger's thumb stroked my cheek while his other hand came down to rest on my hip.

"You want to talk about it?"

I shook my head. Ranger pulled me close and held me for a moment before pulling back.

"Breakfast?" He asked.

I nodded. "I have Poptarts."

Ranger smiled gently. "No Poptarts. I made breakfast." He stood up and moved towards the door. "Get dressed, I'll be in the kitchen."

I watched him walk out of the room. Out of one nightmare and into another; it was time for my 'talk' with Ranger.

* * *

"Mmmm, this looks delicious." I glanced down at the omelets and fresh fruit on the kitchen table. "Where's the bacon?"

Ranger's almost smile was in place as he pulled out a chair for me.

"Babe."

I sat, then waited for him to do the same before taking a bite of my breakfast.

Who knew an egg white and veggie omelet could be so good?

"Babe," Ranger groaned

I cut off mid-moan and looked up at him. "Oops."

I watched Ranger take a bite of melon and bring it to his perfect lips. Mmmm… Then I pictured those lips on another woman's and my heart thudded in my chest.

"Uh…what did you want to talk about?" I asked around another bite of egg. Better to just get it over with now, I told myself. Like ripping off a bandaid. He'd say 'I'm seeing someone, Stephanie' and I'd say 'That's wonderful, Ranger. I hope you have a happy life together with loads of gorgeous children.' Yeah, right.

"Eat first," he told me. "We'll talk afterwards."

I couldn't really enjoy my breakfast with the 'talk' looming over my head. I ate without really tasting until an empty plate sat before me. Why hadn't I eaten slower? Delay the inevitable, you know.

Bandaid, I reminded myself. Remember the bandaid.

Ranger brought the dishes to the sink and rinsed them, then sat facing me once more. "Babe."

"Did I thank you, for the refrigerator?" I blurted out.

Again with the almost smile. "Yes. Wouldn't want your food to catch death cooties, now would we?"

I cringed at the memory of our death cootie conversation. It seemed like forever ago.

"And the food," I said. "Did I thank you for the food?"

"You're welcome."

"The Ben and Jerry's?"

"Hector's idea. Should help prevent late-night ice cream runs."

I cringed. "I had no idea what he was saying."

"I know," Ranger said with a smile.

"Will you teach me Spanish?"

"Babe."

I was procrastinating, prolonging the torture. Just shut up, I told myself.

"I'll teach you if you really want to learn, but right now we really need to talk."

I closed my eyes and nodded.

"Why don't we go sit on the couch," Ranger said.

I followed him into the living room and sat on the opposite end of the couch. He watched me for a moment, blank face horribly present, then turned to face forward.

"The cops will want to talk to you about last night," he said.

"Which part?" I asked. There had been so many parts to last night, I wasn't even sure how to begin processing them.

"Morelli's stalker," Ranger said.

I nodded.

"I spoke with them this morning." This got my attention. Why hadn't he waited for me? Ah well, they probably would have split us up for our statements anyway.

"Who is he?" I asked.

Ranger turned to look at me. "A guy named Egan Swarz. Morelli picked him up in connection with an ongoing murder investigation. He was released as not being involved. Apparently, he saw you two together and hopped on the Stephanie Plum bandwagon."

"Then he found out about Jeanne Ellen?"

Ranger nodded.

"And he thought I should know?"

"Apparently."

"Well, at least his heart was in the right place," I said sardonically.

Ranger reached out like he was going to touch me, then obviously thought better of it and lowered his hand.

"He'll go away, babe. Probably for even longer because he messed with a cop. And when he gets out, there'll be a restraining order."

I nodded. To be honest, I wasn't all that worried about Swarz. Grossed out? Yes. Afraid? Not really. Mortars was the one who really frightened me. But even that was nothing in comparison to the fear of what Ranger was about to tell me.

"That's not all you wanted to talk about, was it?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Who is Edwin Mortars? Why can't we go to the cops?"

Ranger let out a little breath, a Ranger sigh.

"Babe."

"Ranger, you don't have to give me specifics, but don't you think I have a right to know?"

Ranger watched me for a moment, his eyes shadowed, then he nodded once.

"Short story: Mortars works for a guy named Gene Trotter. Trotter deals in cocaine. We want him out of Trenton. If what Mortars tells us is right, there's not enough evidence for the l.e.o.'s to do anything about it."

"That's where your team comes in," I said. Batman: cleaning up the world, one crack dealer at a time.

Ranger nodded. "Trotter finds out Mortars spoke with us and Mortars is a dead man."

I shuddered. "So, he's gonna shut us up."

"That's probably the idea."

We were silent for several moments. I was busy absorbing all of this new information. For all I knew, Ranger was doing long division in his head.

"Babe," Ranger chuckled. Stupid Batman ESP.

"I've got some more questions for you, Mister," I told him.

He was silent, apparently waiting for the interrogation.

"You tapped my phone," I accused. Now, I wasn't really mad about the phone tap anymore, but it was another excuse to put off the real 'talk'.

"Babe."

"Don't you 'babe' me. You had no right…And speaking of rights," I said, my voice rising, "what the hell is a 'hands-off notice'?"

The amusement faded from Ranger's eyes and his mercenary mask slid into place. I sucked in a breath.

"What?" He breathed.

"You heard me," I said, standing up. I was working up a real steam now. "Apparently, the people on the 'streets' think that I'm your woman. There was something about a 'hands-off notice' and that if they touched me you'd kill them." I ended on a high, frantic note, willing him to contradict me.

"Babe."

"Ranger," I yelled. "Tell me what the hell kind of right you had…"

"It was for your safety."

"How in the hell…"

"Sit down, Stephanie." His voice was deadly quiet, cool and calm. His burning eyes told a different story.

I crossed my arms over my chest and sat as far from him as possible.

"Who told you?"

"It doesn't matter," I said, staring straight ahead of me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him clench his jaw and take a deep breath.

"After the thing with Scrog," he said, "I realized that we didn't actually need to have a relationship for you to be in danger."

I turned to look at him. What was he saying?

"Ranger, I…"

"Just listen."

I closed my mouth and nodded.

"Some people see us and just assume…well, that we're together. That could be…dangerous for you, as we both found out."

Why did it feel like he was saying goodbye? I fought to take my next breath.

"Ranger, it's not…"

He scooted closer and placed one finger over my lips. "Shh, listen. I realized that you would be safer if people actually _thought_ that you were mine."

I began to protest his terminology, but his finger was back on my lips.

"People are afraid of me, babe. I put out the hands-off notice so that they'd know that if they harmed you, there'd be a price to pay."

"I hate it when you have to kill people," I whispered against his finger.

He closed his eyes briefly. "I know, babe."

"Not many people on the streets are crazy enough to defy you," I said, borrowing the vendor's words. "Is that why there haven't been as many stalkers lately?"

Ranger said nothing.

"So why now?" I asked. "Two in one week."

Ranger shrugged. "I can't take credit for the first one," he said. "That was all Morelli. Clearly that guy hadn't heard that you're mine."

He smiled briefly and I whacked him on the shoulder. Then his face sobered.

"I take full responsibility for Mortars. And I'm sorry, babe."

I shook my head. "No. I knew what I was getting myself into. It's my responsibility, too."

"Babe…"

"End of discussion, Ranger."

He contemplated me silently for so long and with such intensity that it felt like he was peering into my soul.

"I hate this," he said suddenly.

I felt my brows draw down in the middle. I was about to ask him what he was talking about when he spoke.

"I'm leaving, Steph."

I stopped breathing.

"I'm going out of town. I want you to stay at Rangeman."

"Wha…how…how long? I…"

He reached over and pulled me against him.

"Breathe, Stephanie."

I took a deep breath.

"A few days, maybe a week."

I closed my eyes and let the relief wash through me. For a second I'd thought…well, I didn't really want to think about it.

"Where are you going?" I asked. "What are you doing?"

"Babe," he sighed into my hair.

He wasn't going to tell me. Or he could, but then he'd have to kill me. I wondered briefly if he was going away with _her_. I quickly forced the thought from my mind. It wasn't any of my business.

He was silent, watching me. He pulled me to him and planted a long kiss on top of my head.

"I'll try to call," he said once he'd pulled back.

"You don't have to, Ranger. I know you'll be busy."

He stood up and moved towards the door, his eyes never leaving me. I forced myself to meet his gaze without flinching. He was leaving again. He'd left so many times that I should have been used to it by now. It had never hurt quite this much to watch him walk out my door. But I'd always had Morelli to go home to then, I told myself. Yeah, that was it. And now I had no one. Not even Ranger.

"You okay, babe?"

I nodded quickly.

"You'll stay at my apartment?"

I nodded again, crossing my fingers behind my back. No way was I staying anywhere he'd been with _her_. But he didn't need to know that. Right now he just really needed to leave so that I wouldn't fall apart in front of him.

He nodded once. "Take care, babe."

"You too, Ranger."

He watched me a moment, then turned and walked away down the hall.

I shut and locked the door, then slumped down against it and cried until my eyes were dry.

It wasn't until later that I realized he'd never said a word about his girlfriend.

* * *

The next day flew by in a haze. I toddled around Trenton, trying my luck at a couple of skips, my Merry Man guard always visible in the rearview mirror. They felt no need to hide now that I knew they were there.

I went to my parents' house for lunch and told them about the Morelli thing. I left out the part about the stalkers. I tried to play it out like we'd just decided that we weren't meant to be, but my mom saw right through it. In the end, she somehow got me to admit that Joe had been cheating and with whom. Apparently Ranger wasn't the only one with super powers; mom had a super truth detector. She was surprisingly sympathetic.

After lunch, I headed back out to do my job, ridding the streets of court-skipping scum. Lula sat beside me, in the driver's seat, unnaturally silent. It was as if my melancholy mood was rubbing off on her.

"Is something wrong?" I asked to break the tedium. We had been camped out in front of Tony Gemima's house for two hours now, with no sign of him.

"Naw, girl. It's just…" She glanced over at me, back at the house, then back at me. "Tankie's been tryin' to convince me that getting married isn't such a good idea. He says that with his job and all, well…"

I held up a hand. "Do _not_ finish that statement." Damn Tank. He was pulling a page right out of Batman's playbook and Lula was suffering for it. "You know what?" I told her. "I'll have a chat with him. He knows better than this."

* * *

So that was why I found myself, about 20 hours later – after failing to apprehend Mr. Gemima, mind you – in front of the gate leading to the Rangeman garage.

I reached into my purse only to realize that my key fob had gone up in a cloud of noxious smoke about three cars ago. Then my hand brushed something smooth and plastic. I wrapped my fingers around it and slowly extracted it from my bag. What were the odds that it was an explosive device anyway? Probably Mortars had just slipped some kind of tracker into my purse. I shuddered at the thought of him getting close enough to do that.

It was a key fob. Huh. Wonder where that came from?

Ah well. My 'Burg upbringing had taught me well; never look a gift fob in the mouth…er, you know what I mean.

I pressed the button, waited for the gate to rise, then pulled into the lot. I vaguely registered the black SUV pulling in behind me, Vince behind the wheel. I parked in an empty, non-reserved-for-Batman spot and shut off Big Blue. Then I sat. And I sat. I was slightly amazed that Vince or one of the other Merry Men didn't come to investigate. I was just now realizing the hastiness of my decision to come here.

I couldn't just go up there and tell Tank off for being an arrogant ass, could I? I'd never done it to Ranger. But then, Ranger was _my_ arrogant ass. It was my feelings he was messing with. Mess with me all you want, but leave my friends the heck out of it.

All the way up to five, I contemplated what I'd tell Tank. I figured I'd tell him exactly what I'd tell Ranger if I could just grow the balls. Too bad I'd never ironed out that conversation either.

The elevator stopped on five and the doors opened. Manny and a guy I didn't know were on the monitors. They didn't look up.

"Tank?" I asked.

Manny raised one finger and pointed in the direction of Tank's office.

I didn't bother with such trivial things as knocking or waiting for an invitation. If I was a big bad-ass army guy, I might have put my boot to the door. As it was, I was wearing flip-flops, so I used the handle.

Tank was pacing in front of his desk. He froze and looked up when I entered.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. I was on a warpath, damnit.

"What the hell do you think you're doing pulling this Batman bullcrap with Lula? Your job doesn't lend itself to relationships?" I spat. "Oh, like I haven't heard that before."

"Ste…"

"Oh no, Tank, you're going to shut up and listen, because I've got a whole lot to say. You think you can get away with using your job as an excuse to break off the engagement with Lula? Well, you can't. Who cares about your fucking job? She loves you and I know damn well you love her. If you don't want to be with her, just suck it up, be a man, and tell her that. Don't use your fucking job as an excuse."

"Steph…"

"Nuh, uh. She knew going in that you could get hurt or killed on any one of these jobs. You could say the same about _her_ current occupation. I'm not exactly the safest person to have as a partner. And it's not like it would be new for psychos and creeps to come after her, what's a few more?" I froze. I wasn't talking about Lula anymore, was I?

"Bombshell, I…"

Maybe he hadn't noticed my slip-up. I hurried on. "Just think about what I've said, Tank. Are you really willing to give up the woman you love just because you might get shot to death next week? Hell, I could get hit by a bus on my way to get a donut." I sighed. "Doesn't that make it even more important to spend what time we have with the people we love?"

"Yeah, but…"

I cut him off with a wave of my hand.

"Just marry her, Tank. You know you want to."

Then I left his office, closing the door behind me.

* * *

A/N: I'm gonna go hide now, because I'm pretty sure that's not the talk you all had in mind…I promise it will get better! And if you're all very, very good, maybe I'll post the next chapter very, very soon.

Please, let me know what you thought! Just…do try to be kind, it'll all work out in the end, I promise. Besides, if I bundled it all up neat and tidy too soon, the story would be over…and that would be sad, right?

l.e.o. – law enforcement officer


	10. Exhausted

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks so much for enthusiastic replies to the last chapter. I'm actually really surprised that you all weren't reaming me out for Ranger leaving! Haha, here's the next chapter, as promised!

* * *

I was sitting on my couch with Lester, my Merry Man del día – he'd taught me that – when my cell phone rang.

"I don't know what you said to him, girl, but Tankie and me set a date. April 19th. Ain't that sweet? A nice spring wedding. Thanks a bunch, white girl."

"You're welcome, Lula." If only my own love life would fall into place so tidily.

"What's up with you?" Lester asked as I fell back into place beside him on the couch.

"Nothing," I lied.

"You've been moping around ever since Ranger left. You miss him?"

I glanced up at him. If I squinted real hard and tilted my head, he almost looked exactly like Ranger. Maybe I could…

"Beautiful? You're staring at me like I'm one of those 3,000 piece puzzles that no one can ever figure out."

I sighed. "I'm fine, Les."

"You're not. Now tell Uncle Les what's wrong."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. Okay, so I cocked two eyebrows at him, but he got the picture.

"Right. Little creepy. How about Doctor Les? Doctor's are kinda hot, right?

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, sorry. But seriously, Steph, what's up?"

I gave a deep sigh. Lester was probably the best person to talk to about this. He knew Ranger pretty well, he was a fairly sensitive guy, and he wouldn't repeat every word I said for the 'Burg gossipmongers. That didn't mean I was going to tell him.

"I miss Ranger." It was the truth, I hedged, just not the whole truth.

Lester watched me through intelligent brown eyes.

"He'll be back soon," he told me after a moment.

"I know."

"He called in to the office earlier today and talked to Tank. So at least you know he's okay."

I nodded.

"That's not it, is it?"

Damnit, Lester, why can't you be oblivious to my moods like most of the other Merry Men?

"You don't have to tell me, Steph. Just…I'm here, if you want to talk."

I nodded again, trying to blink back tears. Who knew a Rangeman could be so sweet?

We settled back down to watch 'Meet the Parents', but my head just wasn't in it. Was I being stupid? I mean, why would Ranger have stayed with me the night before he'd left if he was seeing someone else? Because he feels responsible for your well-being, I told myself. I was so confused that I couldn't even figure out which voice was Smart Stephanie and which was Stupid Stephanie.

Well, why would he have said he'd try to call? One of the Stephanie's asked. Surely you didn't make time during an important trip – or whatever it was – to call someone you didn't care for. Well, he hasn't called yet, has he? And it's been two days.

"You're thinking so loud I can't hear the movie," Les said.

I groaned as I turned my head to look at him. Just ask him, Steph. Just do it.

"Is Ranger seeing someone?" I blurted out, then slapped a hand over my mouth in horror.

Lester's hand froze halfway to his mouth and the popcorn he'd been about to eat fell into his lap.

"I thought he was seeing you," he finally said.

I shook my head.

"Steph, I…I mean we all just assumed when you broke up with the cop…"

I shook my head again.

Lester reached over and pulled my hand away from my mouth.

"What is this all about?"

I let out a short laugh. I wasn't about to tell Lester that I loved Ranger before I told Ranger himself.

"I…I can't tell you," I said.

Lester took the popcorn bowl from me and set it on the coffee table.

"Listen, Steph, I don't know who Ranger's seeing, if he's seeing anyone." He laughed softly to himself. "Hell, I think he'd be an imbecile to ignore what's right in front of him. Because anyone with eyes can see that he loves you." Lester's eyes were soft and warm as he regarded me. "And I'm pretty sure you love him, too."

I sucked in a deep breath and turned away from him.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed now, Les."

I stood up and walked towards my bedroom. "Lock up when you leave."

I went into my room and shut the door. I heard the TV shut off. Two minutes later I heard the door open and close, then all was silent.

* * *

The next day was another blur of activity. Lula was her usual Chatty-Cathy self. In fact, her I'm-disgustingly-in-love smile was enough to make me nauseous.

I stopped by Rangeman in the afternoon to see if they had any new intel on Edwin Mortars. They didn't. Apparently he was almost as good at being in the wind as Ranger.

The margarita, the lab assured us, had been just that. No poison, no drugs, just tequila, lime juice, and Triple Sec.

"We'll get him, Steph," Tank assured me. "Why don't you go home and get some sleep. You're looking a little tired."

That was putting it lightly. I looked like the walking dead; most people were just too polite to tell me.

Truth was, I hadn't really been able to sleep since Ranger left. My brain was so jumbled with thoughts of Ranger with another woman and fear of crazy Edwin Mortars that sleep just never came. I lay awake watching the shadows, waiting for Mortars to come out and grab me. I tried to remember that there were Merry Men outside watching over me, but they were far away and easily forgotten in the inky blackness of midnight.

"Is Ranger okay?" I asked Tank now. "I mean, is everything going okay?" I didn't know what everything was, but I figured Tank could at least tell me how Ranger was.

Tank watched me for a moment before answering. "He hasn't had much time to talk," he said, "but from what he said yesterday on the phone, everything is going as expected."

What did that mean, 'as expected'? Had it been expected to go smoothly? Or had Ranger been expecting World War III? Stupid elusive Tank-speak.

"Okay." I nodded.

* * *

I lay in bed later that night, shivering every few minutes despite the thick comforter and the warm June air.

I could handle Mortars, really I could. My gun was on the nightstand, loaded and everything. There were Merry Men surrounding my building. I was safe. For some reason, my brain couldn't convince my body of that.

I almost jumped out of my skin when a high pitched ringing broke out from somewhere close to my head.

I reached over and grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand. I pressed the green button to answer the call and put the phone to my ear.

"Babe," Ranger murmured softly into my ear.

I sucked in a sharp breath. In my sleep-deprived state, I hadn't even recognized the Batman theme song.

"Uh."

Ranger chuckled softly.

"R…Ranger?"

"Yeah, babe. You okay?"

"Wh…why are you calling? Is everything alright? Are you okay?"

"Shh, babe. I'm fine. I said I'd call, so I am. I'm sorry it's so late."

I gave a silent sigh of relief. I was so used to Ranger _not_ calling that his calling had worked me into a panic.

"Why are you still awake?"

"Because you called," I told him with an eye roll.

I heard him shift over the phone line, the subtle swish of fabric on fabric. Was he in bed? Oh boy.

"Babe, you were awake before I called. I've woken you up enough times to know what it sounds like."

"Uh, well, I…"

"Tank says you've been walking around like a zombie."

Stupid, big-mouth Tank. So this is why Ranger had decided to call; Tankie was concerned with my health.

"I'm fine, Ranger."

"Babe, please don't lie to me."

I closed my eyes briefly. There it was, the dreaded 'please'. And how could I lie to him, anyway? It didn't matter that he couldn't see me, he always knew.

"I haven't been able to sleep," I finally muttered.

"How long?" Ranger asked.

"Um, a couple of days."

"How long, Steph?"

"Since you left."

He was silent for several moments. If not for the gentle in and out of his breathing, I'd have thought he'd hung up.

"I'm sorry, Steph. I didn't want to leave, especially not now with Mortars on you and everything. If I could have stayed with you, know that I would have done it in a second. I wish you'd at least stay in my apartment. I'd know you were safe there."

I bit my lip to keep from crying. "It's okay, Ranger."

"No," he practically growled. "It's not."

I lay back on my bed and listened to him breath.

"Where are you, Ranger?" I finally asked.

I could practically hear the blank face falling into place. "Babe."

"You don't have to tell me anything you'd have to kill me over, Ranger. I just…I…" I trailed off, not knowing quite how to explain it.

He was quiet for a moment, and then I heard him sigh softly.

"Alright."

He was silent again, gathering his thoughts I hoped. If he was about to blow me off again, I was going to get very angry.

"The past four months," he began, "after the Brenda thing, I was…away…on a government mission."

I pulled the covers up over me and snuggled down into the bed. Omigod, Batman was about to actually tell me something.

"It was my last one. My contract is up and I'm not renewing it."

I was frozen. Ranger was done? Done with long, dangerous missions and trips out of the country? Done with starting coups in West Africa?

"I want to focus more on the business aspect of Rangeman. I'm getting too old for the government crap. I'll leave it to the younger men."

My mind flashed back to his 'my life doesn't lend itself to relationships' speech. Would this change all of that? Or was Rangeman still too big a part of his life to allow emotional attachments?

"Maybe it's time for me to settle down a bit."

My heart splintered. 'Not with me', 'not with me', 'not with me' it pounded. You don't know that, my mind answered.

"I'm in D.C. to tie up some loose ends and officially get out of the program."

I took a few moments to absorb all of this. My heart was just settling down in my chest when he spoke again.

"Stephanie," I heard him whisper. "I heard what you told Tank yesterday, about his job not lending itself to relationships."

I sucked in a breath. Ranger had heard? I was going to have to have a long talk with Tank about confidentiality. Then I remembered Lester telling me that Ranger had called the office. Had he been on the phone the entire time I'd been railing at Tank?

"Tank had me on speaker phone." Batman ESP. "Did you mean it, Steph? Did you mean what you told him?" He sounded anxious, almost desperate.

Here it goes.

"Yes."

He was silent for so long that I almost fell asleep. I don't know what I'd been expecting after that, declarations of love, promises for the future. I should have known better. Ranger didn't do love or future. I wondered, then, why did he care if I'd meant what I said or not?

"I can get one of the guys to come sit in your apartment. Would that help you sleep?"

A big, armed Merry Man a few feet away on my couch? Mortars wouldn't dare touch me.

"Yes," I whispered.

"I hate this," he ground out. "I should he there with you."

I was getting dizzy trying to read his mixed signals. "It's fine, Ranger."

He didn't reply.

"Bobby, Lester, and Cal are outside. Which one do you want?"

It didn't even surprise me anymore that no matter where he was, he knew exactly what was going on in Trenton.

"Lester, I guess."

Ranger chuckled softly. "You and Santos have been getting pretty close lately." I could hear an underlying menace in his voice. Batman was jealous. Well, good, because _I_ was confused.

"He's just comfortable to be around," I said, purposely not negating the 'getting close' accusation.

"Go put a robe on and wait for him by the door," Ranger told me.

"A robe?"

"If you're wearing what you usually wear to bed, yes, a robe."

I glanced down at the black t-shirt I'd 'borrowed' from Ranger. Underneath I was wearing a pair of little blue cotton panties. I blushed clear to the roots of my hair.

"Wait," I suddenly exclaimed. "How do you know…"

"Babe," Ranger sighed. "The robe." There was a mischievous grin obvious in his voice as he continued. "I like the thought of you in my shirt. But if I don't get to see it, neither does Santos."

I hopped out of bed and retrieved my robe from the bathroom, all the while wondering how Ranger knew what I _usually_ slept in.

"Okay, Ranger, I'm all robed up."

"Good. I have to hang up to call Les," he told me. "Try to get some sleep tonight. And be safe, mi luz."

I shivered. I loved the sound of the Spanish words slipping over Ranger's tongue. In fact, I probably loved it too much, because now I was picturing other things slipping over his tongue. Like my tongue. I shivered.

"You be safe, too, Ranger. Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams, babe."

I heard him disconnect. I snapped my own phone shut and headed to the door to wait for Les.

I slept better that night, knowing that Lester was in the next room keeping the boogiemen at bay.

* * *

I was sitting in the office the next day, enjoying a nice chocolate frosted with sprinkles when Tank walked in.

He went straight to Lula and planted a kiss on her lips, then he turned to me.

"Stephanie, I…"

"No, you're a big-mouth, secret-telling, tattle-tale meanie." Take that. Playground bullies had nothing on me.

Connie and Lula just stared at me. Tank's mouth was opening and closing like a fish.

"I…I tried to tell you that he was on the phone, but you wouldn't let me speak," Tank finally said.

I rolled my eyes. "You could have just hung up the phone."

Connie gasped.

"Hang up? On Batman?" Lula breathed. "My Tankie wouldn't dare."

Tank waved a hand, dismissing Lula's comment.

"I'm sorry, Steph. But this is something you should have discussed with him a long time ago."

I huffed out a breath and stood from the sofa.

"Whatever. Oh, and you didn't have to tell him I looked like a zombie, either. It was none of his business."

Tank's enormous chest pumped up to epic proportions. "Well, it seems to me that whatever he did got you to sleep, because you look well-rested today. You should be thanking me."

I walked to the door. "This," I called back over my shoulder, "was Lester's doing." Then I walked out the door.

I wasn't really mad at Tank. He was right; the relationship issue really did have to come up sooner or later. Too bad absolutely nothing had been resolved over it. Of course, if Ranger really was seeing someone – which I was beginning to doubt – the issue had already been resolved…for him at least.

And what did it hurt, really, that he knew I hadn't been sleeping? He had come up with a solution to catch me some z's, hadn't he?

I decided that today would be as good a day as any to go make my statement about Swarz at the police station.

Turns out Swarz had been a butcher – hence all the piggy parts – who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd apparently stumbled into the alleyway where a murder had recently taken place. Joe had picked him up in connection to the murder, but he'd been released shortly after when they discovered he had nothing to do with it. Like Ranger said, he'd seen Joe and me together and had joined my fan club. Seems he'd seen Joe going into Jeanne Ellen's apartment building late one night and had decided to do some investigating. He'd wanted to warn me about my boyfriend's pig-like tendencies. The fact that he was nutso didn't help matters any.

My phone rang just as I was leaving the station.

"Girl, what you talkin' bout Lester getting you to sleep? I know you ain't cheating on Batman, now."

I decided to ignore the fact that I _couldn't_ cheat on Ranger, because we _weren't_ _together_.

"Nothing happened with Les. I'll explain later, okay?"

Lula huffed over the phone line.

"Fine, girl, but you better be bringin' lunch, too."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure." Then I disconnected.

There was a neon pink slip of paper waiting for me on my windshield. I was pretty sure I had the same notepad at home. I plucked the paper from under the wiper and unfolded it, then almost dropped it. Written in thick, black lettering were the words:

**When the bat's away, the whore shall play. Catch you later.**

I was pretty sure 'catch you later' wasn't some kind of cute slang. I was pretty sure Edwin Mortars was a very literal kind of guy. I wondered briefly if he knew about my Batman thing, or if he'd just made the same connection on his own. Hm.

I walked over to the black SUV parked two spots away and a row over. Ram rolled down the window as I approached.

"Did you see who left this?" I asked, holding up the note.

"Some skinny kid in a fricking red leotard," Ram said.

I stared at him. "Fricking?"

He shrugged. "Boss discourages cursing in front of you. Besides, my momma always told me not to use harsh language in front of nice ladies."

Right.

"Anyway," Ram continued. "I thought he was one of your skips. Shiner, Moonshine…"

"Mooner," I muttered. Shit.

* * *

I was at Mooner's front door twenty minutes later. The door swung open and a cloud of happy-smoke escaped.

"Well, hey, dudette. You get that note I left you?" Mooner asked.

"Mooner, who gave you the note?"

The Mooner tilted his head to the side and watched me through unfocused eyes.

"Ummm."

I snapped my fingers in front of his face. "Focus, Mooner. Who gave you the note?"

"Oh, yeah, right." He laughed. "Some guy with freaky robot eyes paid me fifty bucks to put it on your car," Mooner told me.

"Robot eyes?"

"Yeah, all bright green, like those glowing eyes those robot always have."

Mortars. I shivered and resisted the urge to look behind me.

"Where, Mooner? Where did you see him?"

The Moondog thought for several long moments. I was just about to snap my fingers again when he spoke.

"In front of the cop shop. Figured he was an old friend and didn't know what you were driving these days. You've always got a new car."

"Right, an old friend," I muttered. "Thanks, Mooner."

"No prob, Bob. Glad to be of service."

I stood on Mooner's front porch for a few minutes after he shut the door. I didn't know where Mortars was, I didn't know if he was watching me, I didn't know how to get in touch with him, so I sent my demand out to the universe. "Leave my friends out of it," I thought angrily. Then I stomped back to my car.

* * *

A/N: Pineapple upside-down cake to Vicki and Magdalync for picking up on the speaker-phone thing! _Very_ aware of their surroundings, those two, Ranger would be proud.

Did the Steph/Ranger phone conversation kinda make up for the lack of 'talk' in the last chapter? Let me know what you thought! More goodness to come!

Translations:

del día – of the day

mi luz – my light


	11. Locked Down

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: I want to thank you all, once again, for reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome! Sorry there's been a bit of a wait, real life has been busy. Here's the next chapter for your viewing pleasure!

* * *

It started to rain as I drove across town to my apartment. It was poetic, really, how the weather was mimicking my mood. Not only was I sad because I missed Ranger, but I was now afraid. _It was a dark and stormy…afternoon…_A clap of thunder illustrated my point nicely and brought me back to the present.

I thought of Mortars' note. I hoped it wasn't 'later' yet. I really didn't want to be caught at least until Ranger was home. Who was going to sweep in a save me?

I ran across the parking lot to the doors, but I was still drenched by the time I got up to my apartment. I unlocked the door and stuck my head in.

"Hello?" I called. "Anybody home?"

Nobody answered. I'm not sure if a psychotic, murderous stalker would have anyway. I walked into my kitchen and froze. I knew I'd seen that pink paper somewhere.

On my counter was a notepad full of bright pink paper. The top page contained one word in thick, black writing. I took a step closer.

**Gotcha **

I swung around and sprinted for the door. I think I was halfway to Rangeman before my brain started working again.

Shit. Mortars had been in my apartment, could still be there now. He was going to 'catch' me later. I wasn't sure I wanted to stick around for that. I wanted to be someplace safe and comfortable, somewhere with really great sheets. I wanted to be at Ranger's. I just wished Ranger would be there, too. I stopped that thought in its tracks.

I sped the rest of the way to Haywood, not knowing if Mortars had actually still been in my apartment, not knowing if he would follow me if he had been.

I parked in the garage and double timed it to the seventh floor. I didn't stop until I was standing in Ranger's entryway, the door locked firmly behind me.

My phone rang.

"Yo."

"Stephanie?" Tank asked.

"Yeah."

"Where are you? You took off so fast that Ram lost you."

Hm. Good to know I could lose a tail if I wanted to. I just hoped Ranger didn't decide to send Ram off to Tanzania.

"I'm on 7. You need to check out my apartment."

"Seven?"

I sighed. The big guy could be so slow. "The seventh floor," I told him.

"At Rangeman?" He sounded perplexed.

"Yes. Mortars left a note in my apartment, so I came here."

There was a long silence.

"Let me get this straight, you're putting _yourself_ on lockdown?"

I looked around. Ranger's apartment, locked door. I guess I was.

"Yep."

Tank was quiet again, then, "I've got to write this down or something. No one's ever going to believe this."

I sighed. "Shut up, Tank. Oh, and don't tell Ranger I'm here, okay?"

Tank was laughing softly. "Wh…why not, bomber?" He managed to get out around the chuckles.

"Because he'd just get all smug and bigheaded." And because I wanted to tell him myself…that is, if he called again. Maybe I'd just _be_ here when he got home. Bet he'd get a real kick out of that.

"Sure, bombshell," Tank said. Then he disconnected.

I put my phone and keys in the dish by the door and set my purse down next to it. Then I headed into Ranger's bathroom and stripped my wet clothes off.

The dilemma began as soon as I'd stepped into the shower. There was my old shower gel, right next to his bottle of Bulgari. I contemplated the meaning of this. Unless Ranger's new woman used the same shower gel as me, she had either never been in here, or she didn't exist. I kept my mind firmly planted on the second option. I was finally starting to realize that there wasn't much of a chance that Ranger would have a girlfriend and me not know about it.

I lathered up with Bulgari for comfort, and washed my hair with the lemony shampoo left over from the last time I'd stayed here.

I tried my hardest not to let the smell of Bulgari get me overheated, but it was no use. My mind had linked the smell indisputably with Ranger. I closed my eyes and let the warm, tingly feeling creep over me for a moment. Then I shook my head, stepped under the spray and rinsed off. The scent still permeated everything as I stepped out of the shower and dried off, but I tried to keep my feelings firmly planted in comfort and far, far away from doomsday orgasms. It just wouldn't do to be self-combusting in Ranger's bathroom.

I dressed in a pair of Ranger's sweatpants – rolled up about four times – and one of his hoodies. Some of my clothes were still in his closet, I'd noticed with a bit of a shock, but I really needed the Ranger-comfort at the moment.

I curled up on the sofa, flicked on the TV, and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

I came awake to the sound of the door opening and closing. I jumped up with a gasp just as Ella came around the corner.

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry, did I startle you?" She walked to the counter in the kitchen and set down a covered tray. "Pierre called and told me that you'd be staying here for awhile. I brought up some dinner."

It took me a moment to realize that Pierre was Tank. Ella smiled warmly at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Thank you, Ella. You really didn't need to."

"Oh, nonsense," she said with a slight wave of the hand. "I'm more than happy to do it. You're much more fun to cook for than Carlos." She grinned mischievously, then turned and walked to the door. "Call six if you need anything." She was gone.

I went over and uncovered the tray. Homemade macaroni and cheese. Yum. And chocolate cake. Double yum. Maybe I should have taken Ranger up on his offer to stay here in the first place.

After dinner I settled back down on the couch. I was watching 'Scrubs' and laughing my ass off when Tank called.

"We didn't find anything at your apartment, Bomber, just the note. Are you staying here tonight?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"How long you gonna stay here?" He asked.

That was the question, really. Truthfully, I didn't have much intention of leaving until Ranger got home or they caught Mortars, whichever came first. Why would you want to leave when Ranger got home? One of the Stephanie's asked. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't really sure I was ready for the emotional rollercoaster which would inevitably accompany Ranger's return. Best if I deal with it on my home turf. Right.

"Steph?"

"I don't know," I told Tank.

Tank was quiet for a short moment. "Okay," he said.

I hung up with Tank and settled back in for another episode of 'Scrubs'.

* * *

It was starting to get dark inside the apartment when I finally snapped out of my TV-coma. I switched on a few lights and grabbed a bottle of water. I glanced at the clock. A little after nine. It was still a little early to be thinking about going to bed, but really, what else was I going to do?

I went through my bedtime routine; face washing, teeth brushing, hair combing. I exchanged my sweats and hoodie for one of Ranger's t-shirts, and climbed into bed.

I picked up my cell phone from where I'd put it on the nightstand and stared at it. Would he call again tonight? Or would he be too busy? I didn't get much farther into my musings before I was out like a light.

* * *

Stop that, I thought. Shut up, I'm sleeping. I rolled over and the sound got louder. My eyes slitted open and I stared around at the clock beside the bed. 11:30. The Batman theme song finally permeated my sleep-fogged brain and I reached down to retrieve my cell phone from under my hip.

"Yo," I mumbled into the mouthpiece.

"Babe, are you okay?"

"Mmmm," I hummed. "Mortars was in my apartment, but I'm good. I had chocolate cake."

"Babe," Ranger said, sounding distinctly frantic. "Babe, where are you? Can you talk to me, babe?"

"Sure, Ranger." I snuggled deeper into his heavenly sheets and let out a long sigh.

"Babe, you need to talk to me. Where is Mortars? You need to go somewhere safe. Babe, where are you at? I'll call Tank to come get you."

"Shhh," I told Ranger. "Everything's fine." I stuck my face in his pillow and inhaled deeply. "I was just sleeping."

I heard him take a deep breath and let it out. He sounded distinctly calmer when he spoke again. "Is Lester with you?"

I giggled softly. "No."

"Babe, who are you with?" His voice was low and even. He was probably picturing me with Morelli. It was laughable that he would even contemplate that. "Where are you?"

I sighed deeply. "I'm in your bed."

There was a long silence.

"Babe."

I grinned at the smug smile in his voice. "Don't get too self-righteous, Ranger. I didn't do it because you told me to. I came here because I was scared out of my mind."

"Babe," he murmured. "I have no illusions that what I say holds much sway over what you do. I just love the thought of you in my bed, in my clothes, using my shower."

I shivered. Damn, pretty sure my panties are ruined.

"How come you can call so much on this mission thingy? You never have before."

I heard Ranger laugh softly over the line. "Babe, usually I'm out in the middle of God-knows-where, with no electricity, never mind a cell phone. I'm staying in a hotel here, so I've got time at night to make calls."

"What do you do during the day?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Paperwork mostly. Some meetings. They've been trying to get me to reconsider my decision."

My heart stopped. "Are you?"

There was no hesitation. "No, babe."

We were silent for awhile and I wondered if we were done talking, but he hadn't hung up yet, so I took a deep breath and plunged in.

"Ranger."

"Babe."

Now or never, I told myself. If this went downhill, I could just claim not to remember the conversation. Exhaustion did funny things to people.

"Are…are you seeing anyone?"

The silence was palpable. I wanted to take back my question. I wanted to laugh and tell him that I'd been kidding, but there was no going back now, I'd have the truth. Whether I would like it or not was a whole other issue.

"Babe? Wha…why…"

Batman was at a loss for words. I would have laughed at the absurdity, but I was too afraid of what he would say when he found his tongue.

"Babe, what's going on?"

I closed my eyes. "Please answer the question, Ranger."

"No, Stephanie, I'm not seeing anyone. What gave you that idea?"

"I…I don't…I don't know," I admitted meekly.

Ranger's voice was soft when it came over the line a few moments later. "Babe, Stephanie, there's no one. There hasn't been anyone in a very long time. No one worth mentioning anyway."

I kept my mouth shut. For once, my curiosity could not beat out my common sense. I didn't want to hear about the ones 'not worth mentioning'. It hurt a little to even contemplate them. But then I'd been sleeping with Morelli for the past year while being in love with Ranger, so I had no right to talk.

"Okay," I whispered.

We were both silent for awhile, listening to each other breath.

"Babe," Ranger said softly. "I'll be home in a few days. Will you still be at my place?"

I didn't even really have to think about it. "Yes," I whispered.

"We'll talk then. I want to be able to see you, to touch you, when we talk, okay?"

I shivered. "Okay."

"Babe, I..." He sucked in a slow breath. "I've got to go."

I got the feeling that he'd changed what he'd been about to say.

"Okay."

"Sleep tight, mi corazón."

I snuggled back into the bed and closed my eyes. "Goodnight, Ranger."

* * *

I woke the next morning to the smell of bacon. I rolled over and opened my eyes. Ranger's room. Ranger's bed. No Ranger. Bacon?

I climbed out of bed and retrieved Ranger's fluffy black robe from the closet. I was pretty sure he'd never worn it; I just couldn't see Batman lounging around his apartment in a fluffy robe. Definitely Ella indulging herself, just like the Bulgari. Ranger just didn't have any taste when it came to the finer pleasures in life. Pleasures…hmmm…maybe he had a _tiny_ bit of taste. Taste… I shook my head and walked out to the kitchen.

Ella was there, setting the table for one. She looked up as I shuffled in.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear, did I wake you?"

I stifled a yawn. "It's okay, Ella."

She smiled. "I brought breakfast."

"Bacon?" I asked hopefully.

She pulled the cover off the dish on the table. "And eggs," she said. "And toast. I made the bread myself."

"Ella," I sighed. "You're a saint."

She giggled like a school girl and showed me the butter and jam for the toast.

"Should I bring lunch a bit later, dear?"

"Oh, no, Ella, you don't have to. I don't think I'll be here," I said quickly. Well, I hoped I wouldn't be here; I had places to be, things to do. It really all depended on whether or not I could sneak out without Tank catching on. I was sure now that I was here, he had orders to keep me here.

She smiled kindly and patted my shoulder.

"Dinner, then. Any special requests?"

I grinned. "Dessert."

* * *

I ate quickly after Ella left. It felt strange to eat alone. I ate alone all the time at home, but for some reason it was weird eating in Ranger's apartment without Ranger. Which was odd, since the only other time I'd stayed here, it had been without him.

I dressed in one of the Rangeman uniforms that I'd left in his closet from when I worked here. I groaned as I pulled on the matching bra and panties. Ella was so obsessed with that embroidering machine, I was surprised the toilet paper didn't say Rangeman. If Ranger called, I decided, it was probably best not to tell him that I had his name stamped onto my most private parts. He'd probably make some suggestive comment and my hormones would be thrown into overdrive. I moaned. Too bad I'd worked _myself_ up just thinking about it.

Once I'd managed to cool my thoughts, I gathered my purse, keys, and cell phone, and headed out the door. And promptly tripped over something large and solid blocking the hallway.

"Hey, watch it," the large lump groaned.

I looked up from where I'd landed on the floor and saw Lester hauling himself up.

He reached down and pulled me to my feet.

"Were you…were you…" I spluttered, indignation making my head spin. "How long have you been there?"

He glanced down at his watch. "Oh, only about two hours. Bobby's shift ended at 0700."

I stared at him. "You…"

His hands went up in the universal signal for surrender. "Woah, woah, woah, bomber. I just do what the boss-man tells me. Take it up with him."

"Tank," I muttered. "He thinks I need a guard dog? Well, I'll show him."

Lester was shaking his head. "Not Tank, beautiful. Ranger."

I blinked up at him. "Ranger?"

He nodded.

My heart kicked up a beat and my eyes widened. "Ranger's home?"

Les took a quick step towards me. "Oh, no, bombshell. I'm sorry. No, Ranger called last night and ordered a watch on his door. Said we were to keep you in sight as soon as you left the apartment. I guess he was afraid you'd make a break for it."

My heart pitter-patted back down to normal. After our little talk last night, I was torn over whether or not I _wanted_ Ranger to be home. I missed him like crazy, but if he was home I'd have to deal with my feelings and the fact that he didn't have a girlfriend…and his life might now lend itself to relationships. I wasn't sure I was ready for that.

Lester was watching me with something akin to apprehension on his face. It's the look people get when they know my car is about to explode. "Make a break for it?" I gasped in outrage. "I put _myself_ on lockdown."

"Yeah." Les shrugged. "I think Tank tried to explain that to him."

I huffed out a breath and walked to the elevator.

"You're _not_ going to try to escape, are you, bombshell?"

I turned and glared at him.

"Right." He nodded and followed me to the elevator.

* * *

We took the elevator to five and Lester followed me past Vince, Hal, and Woody at the monitors, through the maze of cubicles, and down the hall to Tank's office.

I opened the door without knocking.

Tank looked up from his paperwork. "Why, come in, Stephanie, please make yourself at home." I didn't appreciate the sarcasm, but I let it go. There were bigger fish to fry.

"Guard dogs outside the door, Tank?"

"It was the boss's idea."

"And you couldn't talk him out of it?"

He sighed. "You know the boss, Steph. Once he gets an idea into his head, its damn near impossible to convince him otherwise."

Not impossible, I thought with an internal grin. I bet with the right kind of motivation…

I shook my head and focused back on Tank.

Les had folded himself into one of the chairs on the other side of the room and was watching us with a bemused expression.

"Anything new on Mortars?" I asked. Clearly the guard dog discussion wasn't going anywhere.

Tank watched me for a moment, clearly put off by the abrupt change in subject. Then he nodded. "His prints were on both notes; the one from your apartment and the one from your car. So we know it's him."

"We already knew that," I said with a groan, sinking into a chair.

"Now we know it for sure, bomber."

I nodded reluctantly. "What else?"

Tank looked down at the papers in front of him, clearly avoiding my eyes. "Not much." He glanced quickly up at me. "But we will find him, bomber. I promise you that."

"I want to help," I told him.

"Now, Steph, I…"

"I'm not going to just hide out here and do nothing. Mortars has just as much reason to want you and Bobby and Lester dead, not to mention Ranger. None of you are hiding out. Let me help, Tank. I've got good instincts." I remembered Ranger telling me that. He'd been proud of me. No one was ever proud of me. I felt a warm hand squeeze my heart.

"Can't argue that," Lester piped up.

Tank glanced between the two of us. Finally, his eyes fell on me.

"Fine."

I smiled and jumped up.

"But only searches for now," he said quickly. "Until we know more, I think you should stay in the building."

"Thank you, Tank. Thank you, thank you, thank you." I bounced around the desk and wrapped him in a hug. He returned it after an awkward moment.

"Now, where do I start?" I asked, pulling back to grin up at him.

He groaned.

* * *

Ten minutes later we were standing in front of the door to Ranger's office.

"Your old cubicle has been reassigned. We don't have any empty at the moment. You'll have to use Ranger's office."

My eyes widened and I swallowed hard. My gaze tracked to the small silver plaque on Ranger's door.

Ricardo Carlos Manoso, CEO

"Ranger's office? Oh, I couldn't…" Probably he'd find out and ship me right off to Tanzania with Ram.

"Forget it, bomber," Lester said from behind me. "It's exactly what Ranger would want. This way the man knows exactly where to find you. Hell, he probably has some kind of panic button so he can lock the room down if he thinks you're in trouble." He laughed softly.

I turned back to Tank, but he just shook his head.

"No arguments, bomber," he said. "And probably there's no panic button. You want to help, you're using the boss's office."

I bit my lip and nodded slowly. Tank was right, probably there was no panic button. "Alright."

* * *

An hour and a half later, I'd turned up nothing useful.

I had an address which didn't exist, a phone number which was out of service, and an emergency contact from Alabama with an Indian accent and no idea who Edwin Mortars was. Crap.

I slumped back in Ranger's oversized computer chair and tapped my fingers on the armrest.

My next step would normally have been to talk to the guy's known associates. But I was stuck inside the building until further notice, and Mortars' known associates were drug dealers; not exactly the 'Burg soccer moms I was used to.

Maybe I should just leave this up to the guys.

No. I'd never given up on a skip. And this might not be a skip, but there was no way I was going to hide out and let the Rangemen take care of it.

I took a deep breath and ran a search on Gene Trotter, the lead cocaine dealer.

Jeez, this guy was a real nasty piece of work. Three murder accusations, none of which stuck; embezzlement charges, which he'd gotten off on; six counts of assault; one rape accusation; three counts of possession with intent to distribute. I wondered how this guy was still allowed to roam the streets. If I was Mortars, I wouldn't want him after me either.

There was a list of Trotter's known associates and enemies – the wonders of Rangeman technology. The only name I recognized on the associates list was Mortars, but I had heard of a few on the enemies list. They were all known drug dealers. All related to what I knew to be the biggest drug cartel active in Trenton. At least now I knew why Rangeman wanted Trotter out. I remembered Ranger telling me that there was a system in Trenton. One group took care of gun-running, another handled money laundering. The cartel made their business in drugs. They didn't like interlopers. If Trotter thought he was getting in on the drug business in Trenton without the cartel's approval, he had another thing coming. Like a street war. Like Ranger had said, Trotter was about to start some 'real bad shit'. Shit.

But that part wasn't my problem. I wasn't stupid enough to step between a drug dealer and a cartel. Let the Rangemen handle that. Mortars was my only concern.

If Mortars was still after us, that meant that Trotter hadn't found out about his ratting yet. If he had, Mortars would either be on the run, or learning to swim with a bullet in his brain.

That meant that if I could find Trotter, I'd find Mortars.

I shivered. I wasn't real fond of the idea of looking for a drug dealer, especially one with Trotter's background. But, hey, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do, right?

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! Gotta love Frantic!Ranger and Jealous!Ranger asking her who she was with.

Don't forget to let me know what you thought!

mi corazón – my heart


	12. Ensnared

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Glad you all loved the _actual_ 'talk'. I'm glad Ranger's not seeing anyone, too. Now, shall we see what kind of trouble Steph can get herself into? Alright, as you wish…

* * *

I looked over Trotter's file again. He had a place over on Stark. Ranger probably had more contacts on Stark Street, but I was pretty good at working with what I had.

I called Lula. She'd spent a lot of time on Stark Street in her former profession, as a ho.

"White girl, you got some splainin' to do. You ain't never come back yesterday with my lunch and that story bout that hunk Lester."

I groaned.

"Sorry, Lula. Something came up. There was this stalker, you know the drill. I ended up at Rangeman. Anyway, Lester stayed in my apartment with me so I wouldn't be too scared to sleep. That's all." I hadn't explained the Mortars situation to her, and I didn't really want to get into it now. "Look, I could use your help."

I could practically see Lula perk up in her seat. "Well, now, tell me girl, what can Lula do for you?"

"You know anything about Gene Trotter?"

Lula cleared her throat nervously. "Now, girl, you don't want to go getting involved with Trotter. That man is bad news."

"I know, Lula. I'm doing research for Rangeman," I told her truthfully. It was just that the Rangemen weren't the ones who were going to be following up on that research...

"Huh," Lula grunted. "Why you be doin' research for Batman?"

"Ummm…he asked me to help out a bit while he's away," I said, then I rushed on to avoid the interrogation which was sure to come. "The file says Trotter has a place on Stark?" I prompted her. "213, some office building."

"That place ain't nothing but a front. He leaves a secretary and some of his lackies there to deal with potential 'clients'," Lula told me. "I ain't never had no experience with the man myself, but my girl Jackie told me he got someplace he brings women, if you know what I mean."

I knew what she meant. "Do you know where this place is, Lula?"

"Naw, girl, but I guess I could call Jackie for you. Of course, you'd owe me big. We're talkin' lunch-_and_-dessert big."

I laughed. "You got it. Thanks, Lula."

I hung the phone up and leaned back in my chair. It smelled like Ranger. I wished he was here. But then he'd have me locked up in his apartment and I'd be no closer to finding Trotter. Ranger was pretty supportive of my endeavors as a whole, but I didn't think he'd be real happy about my going after a drug dealer.

I picked up Ranger's office phone and dialed Tank's extension. No answer. I called his cell.

"Talk."

"It's me," I told him.

"Steph? Listen, bomber, I'm kinda…"

"Do you guys know where Trotter is?" I asked.

"Uh, no. We haven't been able to get a lead on him yet. Listen, Steph, is everything okay? Cuz I've got to go." I heard what sounded like gunfire in the background.

"Everything's okey dokey, Tank. Be careful."

I hung up. Now I knew two things, the Merry Men weren't watching Trotter, and Tank was not in the building. That would make escaping so much easier.

Lula called back ten minutes later and gave me an address one street over from Stark. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and stuck it in my purse. Then I closed out the search programs, put the printed copies in my bag and stood up. Now I just had to sneak out of a building full of ex-army security specialists, every inch of which was covered by security cameras. Piece of cake.

I sat back down for another ten minutes or so until I had a plan that I was pretty sure would work. It was complicated. The more complicated, the more likely it would work, right?

I walked out of Ranger's office, trying my hardest to look casual and aloof. I waved to the guys at the monitor, two I didn't know. Pay day! Maybe they wouldn't catch on so quickly.

"Just headed down to the gym," I said cheerfully.

They nodded like this was an everyday occurrence; clearly no one had told them Steph didn't do gyms.

I took the stairs down to three so that I'd end up outside the locker rooms. I peeked in quickly. Empty. Maybe the guys upstairs wouldn't know that I didn't use the locker rooms either…

I waved at the little camera just outside the locker rooms and went in. I walked quickly to the other side, where there was an exit door. I came out in the hallway near the elevator. Hopefully the guys had seen me go into the changing rooms and wouldn't be expecting me out so soon. If they weren't looking for me, I had a better chance of evading them.

I walked swiftly, but calmly, to the elevator and pressed the button. The doors opened practically before I'd taken my finger off the button. Magic! I jumped inside and hit the button for the garage. As soon as the doors opened, I was out and sprinting to Big Blue. I pressed my key fob to open the garage door before I'd even gotten the car backed out, so it was open by the time I got to it. I glanced in my rearview as I pulled out of the garage. No Merry Men came racing after me. I'd made it.

Two blocks from Stark, I finally considered tracking devices. I didn't know if Ranger had put a tracker on Big Blue, but I knew that there was at least one in my purse. He'd given me a pen that was actually a tracker a while back, but that had been destroyed with one of my cars. After that, I'd found a new barrette in the bottom of my bag. I suppose he wanted me to wear it. Kidnappers never thought to take things out of your hair. The barrette had blown up along with my old key fob. I wondered briefly what new tracker Ranger had slipped into my bag, but I didn't take the time to dump out my purse and check.

I contemplated ditching my purse, but then decided that it was probably a good thing for the guys to be able to track me. And if worse came to worse and Ranger hadn't gotten around to replacing the barrette, the Rangemen could track my cell phone. I made sure it was turned on and functioning as I turned onto Stark Street. Hopefully they'd give me a little while to get a lead before they came blazing in to 'rescue me'.

I drove past the gym where I'd almost been raped by Benito Ramirez. That brought back fuzzy memories of a different, more adventurous Joe Morelli and I had to blink my eyes to keep the tears at bay. He had changed so much since the time so long ago when he'd been my first FTA. Too bad the change wasn't necessarily for the better.

I rolled past the Stark Street address for Trotter. No one was about on the streets, no one visible inside the building. If Lula said this was just a front, I believed her.

I drove two blocks down and turned right on a cross street, then left onto Lenning, the next street over.

I drove past the address Lula had given me. There was a big guy standing near the front door, arms crossed over his massive chest, head swiveling on a nonexistent neck. I parked two blocks down and watched the building in my rearview mirror.

I was watching the big guy pick his nose in horrified disbelief when my passenger's side door opened. I turned with a smile on my face, expecting one of the Merry Men, and was met with a hypodermic needle and a guy with one eyebrow.

My hand was halfway to the door handle when I felt the prick of the needle.

Who-knows-how-much-later I woke up. The room was dim, but a small, grimy window emitted a trace amount of light. My arms were bound behind my back, but my legs were free. I blinked my eyes, trying to clear my head. I was alone in the room.

Stay calm, Steph. I told myself. The Merry Men are probably already on the way.

I sat up slowly, closing my eyes as the dizziness hit me. I wondered what the guy had drugged me with. I pulled my bound hands down under my bum and managed to wiggle my legs through so that my hands were now bound in front of me. I stood slowly and walked to the window. It was kind of high, but if I stood on my tiptoes, I could see the street outside. It was the same street I'd been parked on. I was in the building I'd been watching.

I glanced up the street to where I'd parked Big Blue and my breathing stopped. The car was gone. I glanced quickly from side to side, willing it to be parked somewhere else. It was gone. Shit. My purse and cell phone had both been in the car. If it was gone…the guys had no way of tracking me here.

I sank down onto the floor beneath the window and brought my hands to my face. I wasn't going to cry. No, that would not help my situation whatsoever. A tear slipped out, followed by another. I sucked in a breath and wiped my face. Stop it, Plum. Suck it up and think.

This whole time, my eyes had been surveying the room I was in. There was a set of metal shelving on one end of the room. The rest of the room was bare.

First things first, I stood and walked to the door. It was locked. What? A girl can hope, right? Who says a kidnapper can't be stupid and leave the door unlocked? Too bad this one wasn't.

I stepped back and surveyed the room once more. Nothing. The window was sealed shut. I sank back down and laid my head on my knees. Maybe the guy would 

come back and I could somehow get past him and out the door. Right. Like that ever worked. Most likely, three more ugly uni-brow guys would fall in to stop me.

I almost laughed at the irony of my situation. For once, I hadn't made any attempt to stop the Merry Men from tracking me, and they still wouldn't be able to.

I must have fallen asleep somehow – stupid drugs – because I woke up with the knowledge that life was about to get more complicated. As I watched, the door to my prison swung open and the uni-brow guy walked in. He had a sick smile on his face and he was holding a gun.

"Thought I'd just gotten lucky," he drawled. "Pretty girl, all alone, unlocked doors. But that ain't the half of it, is it? I know who you are."

I remained silent. Maybe he'd gotten it wrong. Maybe he thought he had someone real important like the mayor's daughter…or Lindsay Lohan. Probably he'd be disappointed when he found out who I really was. Probably he'd just let me go. Right.

"You're the bombshell bounty hunter," he said with a grin. "You're Manoso's woman."

Fat lot of good it was doing me.

"Manoso's been after the boss. Maybe you're the leverage we need to get him to back off."

I almost laughed. If this guy thought holding me hostage would get Ranger to back off, he had another thing coming. Holding me hostage was likely to get the whole building blown up and all of its occupants murdered, and their bodies shipped off to third world countries. Ranger didn't kid around where my safety was concerned.

Uni-man was thinking.

"Maybe I shouldn't tell the boss about you just yet. He's busy right now. Maybe I could just have some fun before I let him know what I found."

Shit. I hated it when they decided they were going to 'have some fun'. It was never any fun.

There was a loud rap on the door and Uni cursed and turned back to the door.

"What?" He hissed to someone outside.

"Meeting in five," a voice said.

"Shit." Uni-guy shut the door and turned back to me. "I've got to go to a meeting, darlin'. You'll be here when I get back, right?" He laughed to himself and left the room. I heard the lock click behind him.

Not if I can help it, I thought.

I took a few deep breaths to steady my nerves and help me think. What would Ranger do? I laughed. WWRD? I could make necklaces and key chains. I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity. Not helping, Plum.

I wanted Ranger. I wanted him here, rescuing me, pulling me into his arms, whispering that everything was okay now, carrying me back to the Turbo and buckling me in. I wanted his strength and his reassurance. I wanted to be like him. To be fearless and logical and able to get myself out of these situations. My eyes were getting misty, so I wiped them on the back of my bound hands. I had to let out a laugh that the uni-guy hadn't even noticed that my hands were now in front of me.

I don't know how many hours passed as I imagined what Ranger would be doing at this exact moment, but the sun sank behind the window until it was black as pitch inside the room. I wondered if the Merry Men had called him. Was he worried? Who are you kidding, Plum? Of course he's worried. I was a horrible person. Why did I keep getting myself into these situations? Didn't I care that people were worrying? That there was a contingent of men out there looking for me, fearing for their lives if they didn't find me? That Ranger was bleeding money? Would he be sad if I didn't make it out of this one? Would he go to my memorial service in his mysterious black clothing and stand in the back row and wonder where he'd gone wrong?

He'd tried to teach me to be more aware of my surroundings, to lock my doors in bad neighborhoods, to take back-up. I hadn't listened. Why did he put up with me? Suddenly I couldn't blame Morelli for all of his yelling and ultimatums. I was no good at this job. I should have quit years ago.

I wondered momentarily where my captor had gone. A meeting shouldn't be taking this long. Couldn't he just hurry back and get this over with? I was tired of the waiting.

I let my head roll back on my shoulders. My eyes caught on something in the ceiling and my heart stopped, my mind whirling. A vent. A vent that was about big enough for me to fit through. How had I missed that?

But how was I going to get up there?

My eyes surveyed the room again halfheartedly. I was too realistic to expect much help from an empty room. Then I spotted the shelving. It was a freestanding structure, about five feet tall. Maybe I could…

I stood slowly, then closed my eyes as I swayed. When I was sure I wasn't going to fall over, I opened my eyes and walked over to the shelves. They weren't bolted down. I gripped one end and tugged. Nothing. Of course life couldn't be quite so easy.

I took a deep breath and tried again. It moved about two inches with a loud grinding sound. Great. Any chance the entire building hadn't heard that? I hurried back to my corner and tried to act scared and depressed. It wasn't hard.

After about twenty minutes I figured it was safe to say no one was coming. I went back and started my long, grueling task of sliding the shelves into the middle of the room.

It took about an hour, interspersed with quick trips back to my corner when I thought I heard someone coming. No one came. By the time I had the shelves lined up beneath the vent, I was tired and sweaty and aching. I sank down onto the ground again and took a rest. I stood back up after a few minutes. If I wanted to get out of here, I'd better do it now, no telling when Uni would be back.

I scaled the shelves carefully. At the top, I rested again. This escaping business was really taking a lot out of me…or maybe it was the drugs.

I shoved at the vent and smiled in satisfaction when it shifted. I managed to get the cover off and set it on top of the shelves, then stared up into the hole. It was dark. And probably dirty. There were most likely spiders. I shuddered and closed my eyes briefly. Don't think about it, I told myself.

I pushed to standing and stuck my head into the vent. I couldn't see a thing. Probably that was best. I pulled myself up into the vent and shifted carefully, testing its stability. It seemed to hold okay.

I climbed the rest of the way into the vent and set off. There was no way of telling where I was going. It was so black that even if I'd had a map, I wouldn't have any idea of which direction I was going. I followed what felt like the largest vent until I came to a fork. I flipped a coin in my head and took the left fork.

I tried to keep as quiet as possible, knowing that the vent probably had openings into other rooms.

I heard voices a couple of times, but kept moving. It felt like forever I was in that tunnel, but it was probably only about an hour. Finally, I came to a dead end. I stuck my hand out in front of me and encountered grating. I shoved with all my strength, praying to God that the thing wouldn't lead to some room full of bad guys, and felt it give. I heard the vent cover hit something solid. I moved forward slowly and peeked my head in. Or out, rather. I looked out into the lot behind the building, street lights casting a soft glow over the scene. I felt like sobbing with relief, but I wasn't safe yet.

I turned around and stuck my legs out the hole. I dropped carefully to the ground and looked around. The lot was quiet, empty. I didn't even want to look down at myself. I could imagine the dust and grime I was covered in, not to mention the spiders. I shivered.

I began edging around the building. I had no idea how I was going to get back to Rangeman. I didn't exactly want to walk. I was only one street over from Stark, after all.

The night was warm. The only sounds were the occasional shout from the nearby apartment buildings. It was eerie. I was almost around the building when shouting erupted from somewhere much nearer by.

"Where the fuck…"

"…let her escape…"

"Boss will kill…"

Shit. They'd noticed that I was gone. I slid back into the shadows and waited, my heart pounding. How was I going to get out of here without them seeing me?

"Start a search…"

I took a deep breath and darted across the alley to the building next door. Maybe I could just take off down the street. Maybe they wouldn't notice me.

I kept to doorways and shadows, peeking back over my shoulder every now and again. There were four or five men standing out in front of Trotter's building, talking in loud voices and gesturing wildly. I turned back around and moved faster.

"Hey! Isn't that…"

I turned around in time to see one of the men pointing in my direction. I took off running.

I could hear their footsteps pounding after me, but I kept moving. My legs pumped, my chest burned, but I was _so_ not stopping.

The pounding was getting closer and I could barely see through the tears in my eyes. I stumbled a bit and when I got to my feet, I could hear their labored breathing behind me.

I put on a burst of speed, my breath burning in my chest from the exertion and the sobs. It was no use. I was caught. My legs were already stiffening up, my crying making me weak.

I turned the next corner and a rough hand grabbed me. A vehicle screeched to a stop right next to me, the door was opened and I was thrown inside.

I closed my eyes as the car squealed off into the night and resigned myself. Ranger wasn't coming this time. I was caught again and there'd be no second chance for escape. There would be no dark knight in a fancy sports car sweeping in to the rescue.

I was vaguely aware that I was breathing too shallowly, to quickly. My head felt light, spots danced behind my closed lids. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the long-overdue end of Stephanie Plum. My world went dark.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's a short one, but I've got a few "between the chapter chapters" planned from other people's POV to make up for it. I'm not sure when those will be out, but it should be either right before or right after the next chapter. So what do you think? Will Ranger come to the rescue? Will Steph be able to escape again? Will Mortars or Trotter show up? Lots more to come!


	13. Recaptured

A/N: If you haven't checked out Between the Lines yet, definitely go do that. It's a series of scenes from J.L. from other people's POV. For those of you who wondered about the significance of the password in Ch. 5 of Between the Lines, it kind of spells out Stephanie P if you look at the numbers as letters…

Oh yeah, lots of Spanish towards the end of this chapter. All the translations are at the bottom, and nothing vital is in Spanish, but if it annoys all of you non-Spanish speakers, let me know and I'll leave it out from now on. Spanish is my second language and I just love being able to use it, especially since it makes Ranger so hot. But I know it can be annoying to be reading and come to a sentence you don't understand and have to scroll all the way to the bottom to figure it out. Just know that I will never put anything really important in Spanish. Sorry that was so long. On with the story!

* * *

Sound was the first sense to return. There were voices; low and muffled, faraway, garbled like they were coming out of an old-fashioned radio. I couldn't understand a word.

I knew that I was moving, though I knew I couldn't be walking. I couldn't feel my legs. Or any other part of my body, for that matter. I wondered if they'd drugged me again.

"…get her upstairs…" I clearly heard. The rest was still tuning in and out. I caught a word here or there, but none of it made sense.

I registered that I was being carried, and I tried to struggle, really I did, but my brain wouldn't cooperate with the rest of my body.

"…coming around…" said a voice very near to my head. My carrier, I supposed. The other voices answered him, but I didn't catch any of it.

My mind was racing a mile a minute. Where were the Merry Men? Why hadn't they found me yet? Oh yeah, dummy, because you lost your trackers. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't really feel my face either.

I wished I could see Ranger, just one more time. He was due home in a couple of days. Would I still be alive then? Would they kill me right away, or would they keep me around as incentive for Ranger to back down? They had to know that if they killed me, all bets were off. I knew in my heart that Ranger would return the favor. An eye for an eye, a life for a life. If they kept me alive, there was a chance Ranger might find me. Had Tank called him? Was he stuck in Washington, helpless to do anything? Ranger would hate being helpless, that I knew for sure. I hoped they would let him leave, just so that he'd feel like he was doing something, even if he couldn't save me. Would he blame himself? More than anything else, I hated that thought. That thought alone was enough incentive to have me contemplating another escape plan. It didn't get far.

"The boss is going to kill us," one of the voices was saying. It was clearer now, like someone had tuned the radio.

"We found her, didn't we?" Someone else said.

"But look at the condition she's in," a third put in.

They were quiet for several moments and I felt myself carried up a set of stairs. A door closed and I was lowered onto something soft. A bed? A couch?

"What should we do?" The first voice asked. Alarm bells were going off in my head. Why did I know that voice?

"We let her rest," the third voice replied. "She's been through a lot. The combination of the drugs, the adrenaline let-down, and the shock have caught up with her. Let her sleep it off."

Was it just me, or did they sound concerned? Surely Trotter and his goonies didn't care whether I lived or died.

"Well, she'd better wake up before the boss gets here, that's all I'm saying," the first voice said. Something clicked in my head. Tall, dark, Cuban. I remembered a story about Ranger pulling strings to get someone into his unit in the army. "Bad enough we lost her, we'll be in the shit if he finds out we let her get damaged, too. We'll be on the next ship out to Bum Fuck Egypt."

"Lester?" I tried. My voice came out sounding like a croaky whisper.

"Did she say something?" The lowest of the voices asked.

"Shh. Steph, honey, you with us?"

I tried again. "Les?" I pried my eyes open with gargantuan effort. Warm, chocolate eyes smiled down at me.

"I'm here, Steph. You're safe."

I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming breath. I was safe. I was at Rangeman. Lester, Bobby, and Tank were here to protect me from the boogiemen.

"Wha…what happened?"

Tank let out a deep chuckle. "We were hoping you'd tell us."

I opened my eyes and looked up at them. We were in Ranger's office. I was lying on the couch. I tried to pull myself into a sitting position, but Bobby was there, grabbing my arms, helping me up and leaning me against him.

"Try to relax, bomber. You've been through a lot tonight. Your body is just catching up."

I leaned into his warm, broad side and suddenly all the tears I'd wanted to cry were there, falling down my face, into my lap, onto Bobby.

And then Lester was in front of me, taking my hands in his own, his eyes filled with concern.

"What is it, beautiful? Does something hurt? You can use me as a pillow and we'll make B do his fucking job."

This got a soft laugh out of me. "I'm fine," I told him. "I'm not hurt. I just…"

"It's okay, bomber," Bobby assured me. "Like I said, your body's just catching up. No doubt your mind is, too."

I sniffled in reply.

"You want a drink, bombshell?" Tank asked me.

My stomach grumbled in reply.

Tank chuckled. "And a snack?"

I nodded, then watched as he left the room mumbling something about finding Ella.

Lester rose from in front of me and sat down on my other side. I was smushed between two big, strong men and I was still shaking with the aftereffects of fear.

"I want Ranger."

Bobby hugged me tighter to his side. "I know you do, Steph. He's on his way."

"Oops," I mumbled. "I didn't mean to say that out loud."

Lester let out a soft laugh. "Believe me, beautiful, he probably wants to _be_ here even more than you _want _him here. Don't tell him I told you this, but I'm pretty sure the man has lost his mind."

I blinked up at him. Ranger had always been a little crazy, but for one of his men to say that he'd lost his mind, well this I had to hear. "Huh?"

"He walked out on a government meeting, then when there weren't any flights available, he stole a Mercedes to drive home. Probably breaking the land speed record while he's at it."

"R…Ranger stole a car?" I managed to splutter.

Bobby laughed. "What? Like that's something new?"

"He'll send it back," Lester reassured me with a squeeze.

But he'd still be speeding across two states in a stolen car. "Call him and tell him I'm safe," I begged. "He needs to slow down. The last thing I need is him in jail for grand theft auto…or worse, wrapped around a telephone pole."

"Shhh," Lester shushed. "Ranger's fine. We already called to tell him we had you. He's an excellent driver, and he knows how to avoid the cops."

I closed my eyes and leaned into Lester's side.

Ranger had been worried; so worried that he'd stolen a car and was driving the four hours home. I was a horrible person. I needed to stop getting myself into these things.

Tank came back in a few moments later carrying a mug and a plate.

"Hot cocoa and grilled cheese," he announced. "Ella says they're comfort food. But she said she'll make you something else if you want."

I took the dishes from him and shook my head with a smile. "No, this is great. Thanks Tank. And tell Ella thank you."

He nodded and moved across the room to pull over a chair.

"You probably want to know what happened now, huh?" I asked before taking a tiny bite of my sandwich.

"Eat first, bomber. And relax. There'll be plenty of time to compare stories."

So I ate. Just before my sandwich was gone, Ella popped her head into the room and handed Tank a white bakery bag. I took the bag from Tank and nearly cried with gratitude. Two Boston Crèmes. I savored them both. Probably a little too much if Lester's pained groans were any indication.

When I was done I looked up at Tank.

"Where should I start?" I asked.

"The beginning would be good."

And so I did. I started with the searches on Mortars and my realization that if I found Trotter, I'd find Mortars. The guys figured it was good logic, they just wished I hadn't followed up personally.

I went on about my escape from Rangeman. Tank and Lester seemed highly impressed by my creativity. Bobby was not so amused. Apparently he'd been on Steph-watch at the time. He'd been called down to four to deal with a sick Rangeman and had totally missed my exit. Apparently they hadn't even noticed I was missing until about 6 o'clock when Bobby came to get me and send me upstairs for dinner. I have to admit, mixed in with the pride at my ingenuity, I was a little insulted that they hadn't noticed I was gone for four whole hours.

When I got to the part about how Lula had helped me figure out where Trotter took his women, Tank looked a little peeved. He mumbled something like, "should have known." And something about forgetting to check phone records. The great Tank could forget something…I have to admit, I was astonished.

I told them about parking on Lenning Street and Uni-guy kidnapping me. Bobby informed us that the drug he'd shot me up with had been a strong sedative. He didn't seem surprised when I told them that I was pretty sure I was out cold for hours.

No one looked happy when I got to the part about Uni wanting to use me as a bargaining tool against Ranger. I wanted so badly to ask them to leave that out of the account when Ranger was told, but I knew it would be a waste of time. The Merry Men didn't keep anything from their fearless leader; especially not where I was involved. They were all too afraid of what would happen to them. I hated that this would only reinforce Ranger's insane theory that being with him would be more of a danger to me. Too bad I could have gotten into this mess all on my own with no trouble at all.

I told them about my almost-escape through the vents, and then they took over. Lester told me how they had been hiding out around the corner, waiting for the opportune moment to bust in to the rescue, when I'd come barrel-assing down the street. It had been pure dumb luck that Lester had been doing a drive-by at the same moment Tank had spotted me on the sidewalk. So it was Tank's humongous hand that had shoved me into the car. Bobby took over to tell me that I'd hyperventilated and passed out on the way to Rangeman. Way to go, Plum. The good guys save the day and you're too busy fainting to thank them.

"How did you find me, anyway? I looked out the window and Big Blue was gone. My phone and my purse were both in it."

A vague look passed between Lester and Tank, but it was Bobby who answered me.

"PFM, bombshell. Tank and Lester suggested that we check out Lenning again. We heard some guys talking about the prize they'd caught, and then there you were."

That was definitely not the whole story, but I doubted I could get the real one out of them tonight. I was just too exhausted.

"PFM?" I asked.

"Pure fucking magic, beautiful," Lester told me. "Military lingo."

I nodded.

"You look done in, Steph. Why don't you head on upstairs and get some sleep?" Tank said.

I looked up at him. Sleep. Yeah, right. Like I was going to sleep tonight. These guys might be able to zonk out after a combat situation, but it took me a few nights every time something like this happened. At least, if I was sleeping alone.

"I'll take you upstairs, bomber," Lester said, pulling me to my feet.

"You said Ranger was on his way," I squeaked. "I can just wait for him down here."

They all looked at me, then Bobby caught Lester's eye. Lester nodded.

"You'll be more comfortable upstairs, bombshell. I'll stay with you until Ranger gets here. We can watch Ghostbusters or something. I think there's even some popcorn in the break room we can nab."

I was all ready to protest, but a huge yawn broke out before I could, and I looked up at Lester sheepishly.

"Alright."

He smiled and ushered me to the break room to grab the popcorn, then into the elevator. He grabbed a key fob out of his back pocket and it took me a moment to realize that it was mine. He saw me looking and held it out to me, the corners of his lips tipping up in a fantastic impersonation of Ranger's almost-smile.

"Your purse and cell are already upstairs. I dropped them off when we brought Big Blue back."

My eyes widened. "Big Blue is okay?"

Les laughed. "When is that car not okay? We think it was stolen from where you parked it. Shit luck, huh?"

I nodded, the motion making the dizziness return. I stumbled forward a step before Lester caught me and drew me in against his body.

"Okay, beautiful?"

"Uh-huh," I managed.

The doors dinged open on seven and Lester stepped out, tugging me along beside him. He opened the door and took the key fob back from me, setting it in the tray by the door. Then he led me into the bedroom and left me standing by the bed.

"Go get a shower, bomber. I'll be in the living room. Yell if you need me." And he left the room, closing the door behind him.

I took a few minutes to make sure I wasn't going to fall over, then I headed into the bathroom.

I came out into the living room twenty minutes later in a pair of Ranger's sweatpants and one of his black t's. Lester looked up and smiled.

"Feeling better?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Good, I'll make the popcorn, you put the movie in."

I glanced down at the table after he had left the room. A copy of Ghostbusters on DVD sat there waiting.

"Is this mine?" I called to Lester.

"Don't think so. I found it on Ranger's movie shelf."

When had Ranger gotten a copy of Ghostbusters? I shook my head gently. Probably around the same time I'd added Road Warrior to my own collection.

By the time Lester came back with the popcorn, I was snuggled under a blanket on the couch and the opening credits were rolling.

He sat down without a word and I scooted over and leaned into his shoulder. He didn't pull away and he didn't question it. After a moment, his arm came up around my shoulders and he squeezed gently.

"He'll be here soon, Steph," Lester said softly.

I nodded and closed my eyes. Maybe I'd just rest them for a moment. I felt safe enough here with Lester's strong arm around me. I wished he were Ranger.

"Get some rest, beautiful. I'm not going anywhere."

I nodded against his chest. I really was tired. And Uni had hardly been the scariest of my psychos. Mortars was a hell of a lot scarier. My eyes flew open.

No, I was safe. I was at Rangeman. I was in Ranger's apartment. Lester was here. I forced myself to relax and close my eyes again. I dozed.

* * *

I was back in that room; that god-awful room in the building on Lenning Street and I had no idea how I'd gotten there. My arms were bound behind my back and my legs were shackled together. I opened my mouth to scream and realized that I was gagged, as well. I glanced at the ceiling and every hope for escape faded; no vent.

The door opened as I looked on with awestruck horror, and Edwin Mortars stepped into the room. He was the handsome man I remembered from the bar, except that his hair was dank and greasy, his clothes old and dirtied. His eyes glowed in the semi-darkness like those of some long-forgotten demon. I tried again to scream, but no sound escaped around the musty cloth stuck in my mouth. I gagged, trying desperately to hold back the vomit, knowing that I would suffocate if I didn't.

"He thought he'd use me, did he? Thought he'd ruin my life? Well, I won't let him get away with it."

I squirmed, trying to get my hands loose as Mortars reached behind him and pulled a gun out of his waistband. Instead of aiming it at me, like I'd anticipated, he stood to one side of the door and waited. And waited.

I had a horrible feeling of déjà vu. Hadn't this happened before? But not here. No, somewhere else. And not Mortars….Scrog.

I struggled uselessly against my restraints, sending out prayers and demands. 'Where's your goddamn ESP now, batman?' I wanted to scream, even as I watched the door swing inward and a dark shadow step into the room.

The gunshot was like a scream in the silence. The flash lit his handsome face as his eyes found mine, just before he jerked backwards, and fell to the floor.

My eyes flew open and each breath burned in my chest. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't get my throat to work.

Strong hands grasped my shoulders and forced me to turn. I stared unseeing into the darkness, Mortars eyes still hauntingly real in my mind.

"Babe, look at me."

Oh, God, that voice. That sweet, sweet voice. Where was he? I couldn't find him.

"Bebé, it is just a dream. It is only a dream, amada. Open your eyes, Stephanie. Look at me."

They are, I wanted to say, they are open. But then I realized that he was right. No wonder it was so dark. I pried my eyes open and sobbed in relief at the sight of Ranger, bare-chested, strong and warm beside me in the bed.

"Babe? You with me?"

I nodded, my breath still coming out in pants.

"Shhh, you're safe, babe. I've got you."

He cradled me to his chest, his hands stroking warm lines up and down my back.

"Lay back down, babe. Everything's fine."

He pulled me down beside him on the bed, pulling me across so that I was lying half on his chest.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked.

I told him everything, from the real kidnapping all the way to the horrible ending of my dream. I was sobbing into his chest by the time I finished.

"It's not real, babe. You're here, safe with me, okay? Nothing's going to hurt you."

"I know," I whispered.

He was silent for several moments, then he leaned down and whispered against my hair.

"You want me to sing you to sleep, querida?"

I tried to pull my head back to look at him, but he held me fast to his chest. Ranger was going to sing to me? How could I refuse?

I nodded.

"My abuela used to sing this to me," he whispered.

His hands stroked my hair and back, as he began to sing.

"Dormite, niñita; no llores chiquita  
Vendrán angelitos las sombras de noche.  
Rayitos de luna, rayitos de plata  
Alumbran mi niña que está en mis brazos."

He'd never win a Grammy, but his voice was low and smooth, and the soft cadences of the Spanish language had me slipping slowly into unconsciousness. I wondered briefly what the words meant.

"Rayitos del sol el cielo azul  
Dejan dormir y empieza vivir.  
Dormite, niñita, con ojos diamantes  
Estrellas brillantes florido el cielo."

The last thing I knew before I finally fell asleep were Ranger's lips against my hair and his voice saying, "Sleep now, mi amor. Nada le dañará esta noche."

* * *

A/N: Thanks again for reading and reviewing!

Translations:  
Bum Fuck Egypt- military lingo for 'the middle of nowhere'. Any extremely isolated place.  
Bebé- babe  
Amada- beloved  
Querida- beloved (I'm trying to decide which one I like better for him to call her. Any suggestions?)  
Abuela- grandmother  
Mi amor- my love  
Nada le dañará esta noche- Nothing is going to harm you tonight

The song is called Dormite Niñito. It's an old lullaby from El Salvador. I know Ranger's family is from Cuba, but I couldn't find any good Cuban lullabies. Forgive me. I also changed niñito to niñita since he's singing to a girl…I'm not sure if it would really make a difference, but it seemed right to me. The real song says "que está en la cuna" at the end of the first verse. This means "who is in the cradle", so I changed it to "que está in mis brazos", which means "who is in my arms". Here is the full translation:

Now sleep, little baby; don't cry, little darling  
The angels are coming with shadows of evening  
The rays of the moonlight spin fine threads of silver  
To shine on my baby asleep in my arms.

The rays of the sun, the blue of the sky  
Will wake you from dreams when morning is nigh  
Now sleep, little baby, with eyes bright as diamonds  
And brilliant as starlight that shines from the heavens.


	14. Touched

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Soooo sorry for the long wait. Real life's had me pinned down at the keyboard typing up eight and ten page reports. Yuck. Hope this chapter makes up for it!

WARNING: If you are under 18 or easily offended…well, you probably shouldn't be reading this anyway, since it's rated M…

* * *

_Previously in Just Life: Steph performed a masterful escape from the Rangeman building, was kidnapped by one of Trotter's goonies, got away through the ventilation shafts, was rescued by the Merry Men, fell asleep next to Lester, woke up with Ranger, and was sung to sleep….now, on with the story._

* * *

I woke the next morning with my head on a warm, mocha-colored, Bulgari-scented pillow. Yum. I kept my eyes closed, trying to feign sleep, but Batman was quick on the uptake.

"Babe," he whispered into my hair.

"Hmmph."

His fingers ran lightly down my spine, stopping just before the waistband of my sweatpants, leaving fire in their wake. I shivered.

"Babe."

As much as I had missed Ranger, as much as I had yearned for his presence, I really didn't want to open my eyes right now and have to explain what had happened yesterday. He wasn't like Joe, he wouldn't yell, he wouldn't belittle me. No, Ranger would get quiet, deadly quiet. He'd be 'disappointed'. And how much worse was that?

"Are you mad at me?" I asked softly.

His arms tightened around me.

"No, babe." He was quiet for a moment, his breath warm on the top of my head. "We'll talk about that later. Right now I just need to hold you, okay?"

I let out a long sigh. That was just fine by me. The hand I had on his chest began an exploratory mission all on its own. It started at his throat and drifted slowly down to his hard pecs, pausing over a sharp nipple.

Ranger sucked in a breath.

"Steph," he groaned.

My hand ignored him. It traced the defined ridges of his stomach, pausing to dip into his navel, then traveled further south on his abdomen. When it got to the waistband of his black silk boxers, he reached down and grabbed my wrist.

"We're going to be doing a lot more than holding if you continue with that."

I opened my eyes and peered up at him. His dark eyes were focused on mine. God I'd missed him. I took a moment to contemplate, then I tugged my hand free of his grasp, and let it drift down over the bulge in his boxers.

A shudder ran through him and a moment later I was on my back, covered in 6'2" of hard, Cuban goodness.

"Be sure about this, babe. Because once we get started, there's no way I'm stopping."

I wasn't sure that was true. I had the feeling that if I told Ranger to stop, he would. One of the few things I did know about Ranger was that he didn't do anything nonconsensual. I took his advice anyway and thought about it for another moment.

Did I love Ranger? Oh yes. Did he love me? I was pretty sure he did, but then he is the man of mystery, after all. Did it really matter? He cared about me; that much I knew. Was that enough? It would have to be. I knew that he still might not be in the market for a relationship. This might still all be a game to him; some intimate form of entertainment. Was I okay with that? What did I want? That was the question, wasn't it? The only answer I could produce at this moment was, Ranger.

"I'm sure, Ranger. This is all that matters right now." I motioned between us. "Just this. I need you, Ranger. I need you inside of me."

"Ah dios mío, bebé."

Then his lips were on mine; a hungry collision of teeth and tongues. Fire streaked from my lips to my breasts and continued south. I moaned and writhed beneath him but his strong, warm hands held me in place; one at my hip, one tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck.

"Ranger."

"Shhh, babe. Relax. I've waited too long for this, I'm not rushing it now."

I was all about savoring the moment, but just the realization that I was here, doing this, with Ranger, had me about to implode.

My hands crept down his back, feeling the give and pull of hard muscle under smooth skin as he moved up to kiss my forehead, my eyelids, the tip of my nose. My hands encountered his waistband and he reached back and grabbed both wrists, pinning them over my head.

"Slow, babe," he growled in my ear.

My eyes slid closed and my hands remained where they were with no restraint at all as his lips smoothed a trail down my throat to the edge of my t-shirt. His t-shirt. God, how hot was that? Apparently, Ranger thought so, too. He groaned and rolled his hips into mine, and I nearly shattered at the friction.

"Ranger," I gasped.

"I'm here, Stephanie. I'm right here."

And he was, too. He was right there. He slid slowly down my body, his hands never breaking contact, until he stood at the foot of the bed and smiled down at me.

"Pants, babe? Are you trying to make my life difficult?"

I grinned up at him and wriggled deeper into the pillow. "You said Lester wasn't allowed to see me in your t-shirt."

He growled and grasped the hem of the sweatpants. "No," he said. "Santos is not allowed to see this." Then he gave one firm pull and I was pant-less.

Before I could breathe again, he was crawling back up my body, planting kisses on my calves, the backs of my knees, my thighs. He skipped over the Promised Land, and slipped his hands beneath the black t-shirt I was wearing.

"Santos doesn't get to see this, either," he said, just before he tugged the thing up and over my head.

He stilled above me, his eyes softening, melting, darkening into black pools. His hands were so gently as they fell upon my stomach, moved up to skim my bare breasts, down to hover over my doodah. My lungs felt tight and the backs of my eyes burned as his eyes finally came back to mine and his face split into the most vibrant smile I'd ever seen there.

"Babe," he breathed. "Mío."

"Ranger, please."

The smile turned into a full fledge wolf grin and his lips were back on mine, sizzling, demanding, turning me to goo beneath him. I barely registered when he removed my panties in one swift tug, then I lay beneath him naked and steaming and needing his contact like a drowning man needs oxygen.

"Breathe, Stephanie."

Then his hands were all over me. Nothing made any sense besides the pleasure he was creating. He rolled one nipple between his fingers, then sucked the thing into his mouth. I felt an electrical sizzle just short of orgasm. He repeated the process on the opposite side, then his fingers traveled downward and I lost all practical thought.

They were inside of me and circling me and, God, I was so close, the humming inside my body was like background noise.

"Ranger," I begged.

He crooked two fingers inside of me and sucked one nipple between his perfect lips and I flew apart beneath him.

When the universe I'd been floating in finally coalesced back into Ranger's bedroom, I pulled his head back down to mine and wrapped a leg around his hips, urging his hardness right where I wanted it to be. Only he wouldn't let me.

Ranger pulled back, his smile mischievous as hell.

"Uh uh, bebé. I told you, we're going to make this last." Then he slid down my body, one inch at a time. His lips missed nothing, his tongue quick to follow, until I was positively quivering with need.

I couldn't even create words when his lips finally reached their destination. I gave up trying and tunneled my fingers into his hair to keep him right where he was. Not like he was going anywhere. The thing about Ranger is, he's really good with his mouth. Whether it's on my mouth or…other places, he knows what he's doing. It was only a matter of minutes before he was humming against my most sensitive flesh and I was flying again.

He groaned as he licked his way back up my body. I tugged him up by his hair and devoured his mouth, tasting myself on his lips. He groaned again and I felt him reach down to remove his boxers.

He tore his lips from mine and turned away, reaching for the nightstand. I pulled him back.

"I'm on the pill, and I trust you."

His eyes held mine for a moment, emotions I'd never seen before shimmering behind them, before he closed them and put his forehead to mine.

"Babe."

Then he was pushing into me, inch by amazing inch, and it was all I could do not to scream out in pleasure.

"Stephanie," Ranger breathed. Then he was moving, slowly out, then just as slowly back in. He cradled my head in his hands and I couldn't have closed my eyes if I'd wanted to.

My legs came up around his hips, almost of their own volition, and I was pulling him closer, deeper, harder.

"Carlos."

His eyes flashed black and he growled under his breath, then his strokes picked up, took on an almost feral quality and I relished in each and every one of them. I was coiled tighter than a spring and this man, this man I loved was going to be my undoing.

"Say it again," he demanded, pulling almost all the way out of me.

"Carlos," I moaned, and nearly burst apart when he shot back into me.

"Dios, babe, I love the sound of my name on your lips."

"Carlos," I said again, and was rewarded with another stroke of his hips.

He reached between us, picked up his pace, and I shattered in his arms, his name on my lips like a benediction. I felt Ranger thrust once, twice more, then he came groaning my name into my neck.

Minutes, hours, maybe days later, he stirred and moved to my side, pulling me against him.

"You're shaking," he told me, smoothing the damp curls back from my forehead.

"Mmmm," I agreed. "That was all you, batman."

"Babe," he chuckled.

We lay like that, tangled in each other, until my body was still and sated and the sheets had cooled to room temperature.

"I missed you," Ranger said quietly.

I turned my head to peer into his eyes. The blank mask was so far gone, it might have taken a trip to a third world country. In its place, were the softest emotions I'd ever seen there: caring, affection, and…I wasn't going to go there right now.

I got the feeling he was talking about more than his short trip to D.C.

"I missed you too, Carlos."

He growled again and hugged me tighter. He pulled by head down onto his chest; his free hand stroked my back. Up and down, up and down. I was warm and sated and probably safer than the Hope Diamond. Ranger's stroking was mesmerizing. I closed my eyes, and slept.

* * *

I realized immediately upon waking that I was alone. The bed was cold, the scent of Bulgari faded and light. It was the scent I associated with Ranger's bed…without Ranger in it. I kept my eyes closed and listened hard, but no one was moving about in the apartment.

I pried my lids open and peered at the clock. 10:30. Ranger had gone to work, I thought with a smile. Probably late. Then I remembered that the Merry Men knew that I was up here. Shit. They'd know exactly what Ranger had been doing all morning. I knew that Lester, at least, would tease me. Maybe the others would be too afraid of Ranger's wrath to say anything. What? A girl could hope.

I rolled myself out of bed and padded into the bathroom. I took care of Mother Nature and had a quick shower. Okay, so it was a twenty minute shower, but I blame Bulgari and Ranger's fantastic water pressure. What? It's not like I was doing anything my mother wouldn't approve of in there; I'd already done enough of that in the bedroom with Ranger.

I toweled off, put on Ranger's robe and went into the dressing room to find clothes. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a teal v-neck t-shirt which had somehow come to be emblazoned with the word Rangeman. Huh. This was definitely not part of my Rangeman uniforms. Ella had done my laundry yesterday. Someone really needed to have a talk with that woman about her embroidery machine addiction. Maybe there was a support group she could join.

After the hair and makeup thing, I headed out to the kitchen to scrounge up some grub. On the counter, next to a half-full pot of coffee, was a bakery bag. A peek inside told me that it held two Boston Crèmes. Yum. There was no note, not even a hastily scribbled 'Babe'. I had to assume that Ranger had left these for me. Who was I kidding? I didn't care who had left them, or who they were meant for. I was going to eat them both.

I poured myself a cup of coffee, added skim milk from Ranger's fridge, and sugar – which I had to believe he had bought just for me, since I'd never seen him use it. I popped it into the microwave and dug into my first donut.

I struggled to keep my mind blank, but no luck. I'd slept with Ranger. I tried to tell myself that it wasn't a big deal, but it was. To me, at least. I loved him. I was in love with him. He had my heart, and now I'd handed over my body as well. I wasn't sure either would survive the inevitable split. Because Ranger didn't do relationships, and this fiasco with Mortars was reinforcing one of the major reasons why.

The microwave dinged and I opened it and took out my coffee, then moved to sit at the bar and finish my breakfast.

I was going to play it cool, I told myself. I'd pretend it was just sex; pretend it hadn't flipped me around inside out and left me trembling. I'd go on down to five and see him. I'd put on a brave face, then I'd take myself home and prepare for the heartache when he gave me the no-relationships speech again.

Only I knew better than to hope that I'd be allowed out of the building after what had happened yesterday. And I loved Ranger too much to sneak out again and cause him more worry.

I could always ask for an apartment on four. Only that wouldn't be putting up a brave front, would it? And what excuse could I give Ranger? You're tearing me up inside and I can't let myself fall any deeper? No, I couldn't throw this on him. It wasn't his fault I'd fallen in love with him.

I sighed. This was getting me nowhere. For all I knew, they'd found Mortars last night and it was safe for me to go back to my apartment. I'd just have to wait to figure things out until after I'd spoken to the guys.

I cleaned up my breakfast mess and headed to the door.

Two minutes later, the elevator doors slid open and I did a double-take.

Vince was at the back of the elevator, feet shoulder width apart, arms at his sides, right hand resting on his weapon. He had a blank face on and he was staring straight ahead.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered as I stepped in beside him.

"No, ma'am."

"Ranger sent you?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm to make sure you make it safely to the fifth floor, and no further."

I rolled my eyes and watched as he stepped forward and pressed the button for five.

Next, he unclipped a radio from his belt and spoke into it.

"Package is safely in the elevator. Headed to five. Over."

Another voice, one I didn't recognize, responded. "Lima Charlie."

"What would have happened if I'd taken the stairs?" I asked, my curiosity overriding any anger I had about being treated like a little kid…or a criminal.

Vince was silent beside me, studying the door in front of him with great concentration.

"Don't tell me, he's got another man in the stairwell."

"Not anymore, ma'am," Vince answered.

Meaning, now that I was in the elevator, the guy was allowed to leave the stairwell.

"Stop calling me ma'am. It's Stephanie, or Steph, or Bombshell, or whatever, just not ma'am." He opened his mouth to speak, and I cut him off. "Not Ms. Plum either."

"Of course, m…Stephanie."

I nodded. "So. Why weren't you sitting in front of the apartment door like Les was yesterday?"

Vince finally glanced over at me just as the doors dinged open on five.

"Boss knew that it made you angry," he said, following me out of the elevator. "He figured this would be less of an invasion of privacy."

"A guard dog's a guard dog," I mumbled as I left him and headed for Ranger's office.

I put Vince out of my mind. This was something I could deal with. Forget making love and unresolved relationship issues, anger I could handle. And I had plenty of that right now. Ranger was gonna get it for not trusting me to stay in the building. Did he really think I needed guards to keep me from wandering off? I wasn't stupid. I cringed. Even Ranger's guards hadn't been able to stop me from escaping yesterday. But I'd promised myself that I wasn't going to do that anymore. I wasn't going to place myself in danger and make everyone around me worry. This allowed the guilt to creep away and the anger to come back full force. I was gonna kick Batman's fine, sexy ass.

I opened the door without knocking and strode inside.

"Really, Ranger? Men in the elevator and st…"

He looked up at me from behind his desk and the look on his face froze me in my tracks. It was the ultimate blank face; only even the blank mask he was clearly forcing into place couldn't hide the rage bubbling beneath the surface.

"What?" I asked quickly, refusing to believe that the anger was directed at me. I mean, we made love…had sex, just this morning. What could I possibly have done between then and now? I'd been asleep. "What's wrong?" I said, knowing that I very well might not get an answer.

Ranger's black eyes pinned me in place. "We've had a visit from Mortars," he finally ground out from between clenched teeth.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading. I know this one is kinda short, but I figured it was better than nothing. Let me know what you thought!

Translations:

Ah dios mío, bebé – Oh my God, babe

Mío – mine

Lima Charlie- phonetic abbreviation for "Loud and clear"


	15. Distressed

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks to everyone who's still reading and reviewing, you guys keep me writing. I was reading through my previous chapters the other day to make sure that I hadn't left anything hanging, and I realized that I forgot about Grandma! LOL So we'll hear from her in this chapter. So, here we go!

* * *

"_What?" I asked quickly, refusing to believe that the anger was directed at me. I mean, we made love…had sex, just this morning. What could I possibly have done between then and now? I'd been asleep. "What's wrong?" I said, knowing that I very well might not get an answer._

_Ranger's black eyes pinned me in place. "We've had a visit from Mortars," he finally ground out from between clenched teeth. _

* * *

"Wha…how…"

Ranger stood abruptly from behind his desk and walked around it to me. He took my arm and pulled me to the door.

"Ranger, what…"

"I've got a meeting with the team leaders in about two minutes, you're coming."

Without waiting for an answer, Ranger tugged me out the door and down the hall to one of the smaller meeting rooms.

Tank, Lester, Bobby, Cal, Manny, and Zero were there waiting for us. They stopped talking and looked up as we entered. Nobody said anything while Ranger pulled out a chair for me and took the seat to my left. Finally, Ranger spoke.

"Edwin Mortars stopped by this morning."

He motioned towards the flat screen TV at the back of the room. We all swiveled our heads to the screen. Ranger used a remote to hit play.

The street in front of the entrance to the Rangeman garage appeared. A few seconds later, Edwin Mortars strolled up and smirked at the camera. He gave a small wave, then took something out of his pocket. We watched as he approached the garage door and attached something to it, then cool-as-a-cucumber he walked off the screen. Not a half a second later, Hector came running out of the garage, gun in hand. He yelled something which we couldn't hear. Vince ran out of the garage a few seconds behind Hector. There was a second or two pause, then Hector jerked and fell to the ground, and Vince raised his gun and fired in the direction Mortars had gone.

I reached out involuntarily for Ranger. He flinched when my hand touched his leg. I pulled it back quickly, but Ranger reached over and grabbed it, placing it back on his thigh.

The screen went blank for a few seconds, then the street appeared again, only at a different angle. We watched as Mortars walked calmly down the street, away from Rangeman. Suddenly, as if he'd been called, he turned and whipped out his gun. He fired one shot, then sprinted across the street to a black mid-size sedan parked at the curb. He got into the passenger's side, and the thing took off around the corner.

Ranger shut off the TV and cleared his throat.

"Hector is at the hospital now. Gunshot wound to the shoulder. He should be fine. I'm headed over there as soon as we're done here. Vince tried to chase the car down, but they had too much of a head start. Tech boys are trying to get a plate off the video, but they don't have much to work with."

His voice was low and dangerous. Someone had challenged him on his own turf, injured one of his men.

His fingers tightened around mine as he motioned to Lester with his other hand. Les pulled out a note inside of a clear plastic evidence bag.

"Read it aloud," Ranger commanded.

Lester cleared his throat. "Dear whore."

There were muffled curses, a few angry grunts, Ranger pulled me closer to him.

"My boss wasn't too happy that you got away once he found out what he lost. Let's just say that I'm not the only bad guy in town looking to spend a little quality time with the Bombshell Bounty Hunter."

I almost laughed. How arrogant of him to think that he could possibly be the only bad guy after me. Hell, I had at least one a month, lately.

"You should just pray that he finds you first, because I'm not looking to get too friendly. I'm going to kill you, and pay back your boyfriend for ruining my life."

I spoke before I could stop myself. "What is it with people thinking you're my boyfriend?"

Ranger growled low under his breath. I shivered.

"Go on," Ranger told Lester.

"If you're lucky, Trotter might keep you as a gambling piece. I told him it wouldn't work. Manoso's one hard-ass mother-fucker. No way he'd give up his crusade just to save some piece of ass. Best of luck, Eddie."

"Shit," Bobby muttered.

The sentiment was a common one around the table.

"Enough," Ranger said, and the room fell silent. "Show them what else the bastard left."

Lester flipped a picture onto the table and the guys passed it around. The muttered curses and the furtive glances my way told me that it wasn't anything good. When the picture finally reached me, I looked down at it and gasped.

It was a picture of me, running full-tilt down Lenning Street. It must have been taken about five seconds before Tank, Les, and Bobby picked me up. That wasn't the awful part, though. No, what had me on the verge of throwing up were red crosshairs lined up over the back of my head.

Ranger took the picture from me and flipped it over in front of him.

"There's no way of knowing whether that picture was taken through a rifle or not," Tank said.

"We have to assume it was," Ranger replied. "Which means that Mortars could have killed her and he chose not to."

"The guy's nuts," Manny said.

"He's a loose cannon," Lester said. "Completely unpredictable."

"What's the plan Rangeman?"

"We're going after Trotter."

No one spoke. No one moved.

"It was our plan anyway," Ranger said. "We need him out of Trenton. We do it now. Once Trotter's gone, Mortars has no backing. If he's smart, he'll get the hell out of Dodge."

"Bu…bu…but, he's a drug dealer," I spluttered. "You can't…he's…it's too dangerous."

Ranger turned slowly in his chair and regarded me.

"Babe."

"Ranger, there has to be another way. I won't have you and your men getting into a fight with a drug lord over me and my little stalker."

His eyes narrowed and he drew in a long, slow breath. "Everyone out," he muttered. "Gather your teams. Meeting in conference room C downstairs in twenty."

Chairs scraped back and everyone stood. As I went to rise as well, Ranger's hand clamped down on my arm.

"Not you," he growled.

The men filed out of the room and Tank shut the door behind him. It closed with an ominous click.

I turned back to Ranger.

"Look, Ranger, I…"

"I need you to promise me that you're not going to do anything stupid," Ranger said.

"What?"

"I'm going after Trotter, Stephanie. I need to know that you're not going to go off on some hair-brained scheme and try to solve this on your own. Let me handle this one."

I scooted back from him and stood from my chair.

"Ranger, I…"

"Babe, you don't have to worry about me."

Stupid ESP. Had I said that I was worried about him? No. Well, I had mentioned that his plan was too dangerous.

"Stephanie, I've dealt with men like Trotter before. Hell, I brought down a whole drug cartel in South America once." He smiled grimly up at me. "I've survived on my own for three weeks in the desert with insurgent forces on my heels. I think I can handle Trotter."

I paced across the room and back to him.

"What are you going to do?"

He watched me for a moment, his face blank, his eyes unreadable.

"I haven't really got that planned out yet. Kind of depends on what info my connections have for me. Besides, you don't need to know the details." He grabbed my hand and tugged me down onto his lap. "C'mere, babe."

I sat reluctantly, until he slid his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. I snuggled into his warm chest and sighed deeply. I heard Ranger chuckle.

We sat like that for a few moments, then Ranger placed a hand beneath my chin and tipped my face up. He kissed my lips once, gently, then pulled back to look at me.

"I need you to promise me, babe, that you'll stay in the building today. It'll go down tonight. I need you to stay here until I…" He paused briefly and his eyes slid away from mine. "—or one of my men, tell you otherwise.

I grabbed onto his face with both hands and pulled him back to me. "You'll tell me," I whispered. I think we both knew it was my way of asking him to promise me that he'd come back.

He nodded slowly, almost reluctantly. "I'll tell you."

"Okay," I said. "I promise."

He looked a bit shocked. "Really? You'll stay here until I tell you it's safe?

"Yes." I nodded.

He stared at me for a moment, then he crushed me to his chest and pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead.

"Thank you, Stephanie. Knowing that you're here and safe will allow me to do my job more effectively."

"But I won't know that you're safe," I mumbled into his chest.

His arms tightened and his lips found my ear. "Stephanie, I…"

The door swung open and Tank popped his big head in and cleared his throat.

"Sorry, boss, but Marco Doñez is on line two. He heard about the business with Trotter and bombshell, and he's worried."

Ranger nodded against my head. "Tell him I'll be right with him."

Tank left the room, closing the door again behind him.

Ranger put his hands on my shoulders and set me back in my own chair.

"Doñez is the big drug lord in Trenton," he told me. "He's the reason we needed Trotter out of Trenton in the first place."

I nodded. "He doesn't like competition."

"No," Ranger said, a sparkle of what might have been pride in his eye, "he doesn't. I told him I'd take care of it in order to avoid a street war."

I nodded.

Ranger stood and pulled me up with him. He tugged me into his chest and brought his lips down to mine. The kiss was slow and hot and more passionate than any kiss I'd ever felt. I poured everything I had into the mating of our lips and tongues. When we finally pulled apart we were both breathing heavy.

"Dios, bebé."

Ranger pressed his forehead to mine and just held me like that for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he pulled away and kissed me gently on the forehead. Then, he headed to the door.

"Try not to go too crazy today," he told me with a small grin.

"And you try not to get shot," I said quietly. I couldn't quite muster a return smile.

He walked back over to me, determination all over his face. His fingers laced into the hair at the back of my neck and he pulled me up for another scorching kiss.

He pulled back and leaned down to look into my eyes. "I'll be in strategy meetings all day, so in case I don't see you before I leave tonight, know this: I will try my hardest to come home to you, babe." His hands framed my face and his lips tipped up gently at the corners. "And I'd better come home in the morning to find you safe in my bed."

I nodded, unable to find my voice after that kiss. Ranger smiled gently and pulled away. He turned at the door and pinned me with one last, unreadable look, then he was gone.

* * *

Ten minutes later, I found myself back on seven, sitting on Ranger's couch. I was staring at my cell phone in dismay. I had six new voice messages. They were probably all from my mother. I sucked in a fortifying breath and dialed my voice mail.

"Message one: Stephanie, this is your mother. I've been calling your home phone all morning, but you don't pick up. Are you alright? Call me."

"Message two: Stephanie, it's your mother again. I know that you're upset about Joseph, but you can't hide out forever. It's time to get back out there."

Funny, she sounded almost like a mother.

"You're not getting any younger, you know."

Ah, and there is the Helen Plum we all know and love.

"Message three: Hey, Steph, I heard about you and Joe. What a dick-face. Call me if you want to talk."

Good ole' Mary-Lou. She was such a great friend. I could always count on her to take my side, even if she didn't know what my side was.

"Message four: White girl, what's this I hear 'bout you and Supercop splittin' up? This mean you goin' after Batman now? I bet you're with him right now, huh? Hidin' out in the batcave or some shit." Lula's voice sobered. "Be careful, girl. Jackie tells me word on the street is Trotter's holdin' a grudge on you. Call me."

God, if I'd known what a good friend Lula would turn out to be when I rescued her off my fire escape what seemed like ages ago, well…I don't think I'd have done a thing differently.

"Message five: It's your mother, Stephanie. I called your house phone first, but it said it's been disconnected."

Shit, I'd forgotten to pay the phone bill. Which reminds me, the rent is due soon, as well. Fuck.

"Are you alright, Stephanie? Do you need money?" There was a short silence as if she were waiting for an answer, or maybe taking a swig of Grey Goose. "Your grandmother has been asking about you. She got back the day before yesterday and she's just about moved into Liam's house. Call soon."

Crap, I'd totally forgotten about Grandma and Liam in all this mess.

"Message six: Cupcake…I'm sorry…Please call me."

Oh yeah fucking right. Like that was going to happen. What the hell gave him the idea that it would be smart to call at all. For all he knew, I was going to sic Ranger and all the Merry Man on him.

I deleted all of my messages and called Lula and Mary-Lou. I related the whole Morelli story – cheating and all – and filled them in on Mortars and Trotter. They both seemed disproportionately happy that I was hiding out with Ranger. They both volunteered to exact revenge on Morelli. Lula said that she would pop a cap in his ass. I quickly squashed that idea. No need for Lula to end up in the slammer over that pond scum. Mary-Lou said she'd start a rumor that he'd become impotent. I let that one fly.

When those two calls were through, I sat back and contemplated the pros and cons of calling my mother back. Yes, she'd want explanations. Yes, she'd probably be ironing the paper towels over the fact that I was living in sin with Ranger. But if I didn't call now, she'd just keep trying. And I really did want to talk to Grandma.

Mom answered on the second ring.

"Hello, Plum residence."

"Hi, mom, it's me."

"Stephanie? Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid you were holed up in your apartment, mooning over Joe, eating yourself into a sugar coma."

"Believe me, mom, there was never any mooning. And really, I'm fine. I'm not even upset about Joe anymore."

I wasn't sure I should admit that I hadn't really been to upset over it to begin with.

"So why haven't you been answering your phones then?"

"Um…" Good question. "Well, I've been staying with a friend."

"Not Mary-Lou," Mom said. "I just saw her yesterday. She said she hadn't heard form you either."

I rolled my eyes and sank back into the sofa.

"No, mom, not Mary-Lou."

"Who, then?"

"…Ranger. But, listen, mom…"

"Why me? Bernadette Pearson's daughter doesn't sleep around with big Hispanic men who carry guns."

"Mom," I gasped. "I'm not…"

"Oh Lord, there's someone after you again, isn't there?"

I didn't answer her. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever heard my mother take the Lord's name in vain. I stared off into the space in front of me and waited for the bomb to drop.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum, why can't you just go and get a nice, quiet job at the button factory?"

I sighed. I'd contemplated this recently. The answer then had been Ranger. What would Ranger do at a button factory? I suppose the answer hadn't changed.

My mother continued, completely unaware of my inner musings. "Or McNabb's pharmacy is hiring cashiers. I hear they have a great benefits package. You could settle down."

I opened my mouth to remind her that Joe and I were over and I wasn't going back to the lying, cheating rat bastard, but she hurried on.

"It doesn't have to be with Joseph. Just find a nice young man who makes you happy and settle down, dear."

"Mom," I said gently, "I don't think I'm ready to settle down yet. And I like my job. Please accept that. Everything is going to be okay."

"Stephanie, I just…"

"Please, mom."

There was a long silence, then mom's voice came back on the line, quieter than before.

"You know I love you, right Stephanie?"

I nodded, a lump coming to my throat. "Of course, mom."

"I just want you to be safe and happy."

I scrunched my eyes shut to keep the tears in.

"I'm happy, mom. And Ranger is keeping me safe."

"Good," I heard her whisper. "Good. I guess you probably can't come over for dinner since there's someone after you."

Ironic, I thought, since this was the first time in a lot of years that I actually wouldn't mind going.

"No, sorry mom, I can't."

"That's alright. Just be safe. And call your grandmother. She's been calling here three times a day asking if I've heard from you yet." She rattled off a number which I wrote down on the notepad next to Ranger's landline.

"I'll call her, mom. Tell daddy I said, Hi."

"Of course, dear."

"And, mom? I love you, too."

I thought I heard her sniffle right before she hung up.

Well, that went much better than expected. A little awkward, but probably the most successful conversation I'd had with my mother in years.

I took a few moments to pull myself back together, then I dialed Grandma's new number.

Grandma went on and on about her shotgun wedding with Liam. Apparently, the guy who'd married them had been dressed like Elvis, and there had been red velvet hearts all over the walls. She gushed about how in love they were, and how great Liam was in the sack (Ewwww!).

"We're planning a big reception for our families in a few weeks," she told me. "You'd better be there. And bring your big hunka bounty hunter, too."

"How did you…" I hadn't said a thing about Ranger. In fact, I hadn't gotten much more than a few ohhh's and ahh's in since she'd answered the phone.

"A grandmother knows these things," she said cryptically. "Besides, he's obviously the one for you."

Yeah, if only it were that simple.

I promised to call again soon and we hung up. I put my phone on the coffee table and sat back to watch some TV.

I must have fallen asleep, because I woke to my phone going off on the table.

"Yo."

"Hey, bomber, it's me, Vince."

"Hey, Vince, what's up? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, Steph. Just wanted to let you know what Lance and I are down here if you need us. Ranger's in the wind for the day. Business meetings, you know."

The word business sounded like it should have air quotes around it.

"Yeah, sure, thanks Vince."

"Oh and the boss said that if you were bored, he's got a special job for you. There's a note about it in his office."

I smiled despite myself. It was just like Ranger to know that keeping me cooped up all day was bound to drive me crazy.

"Thanks, Vince. Oh, how's Hector doing?"

Vince laughed. "He's Hector. Trying to convince the doctors that he's fine to come home."

My stomach growled just as I hung up with Vince. I glanced at the clock. 12:32. Awesome. Lunch time.

I headed down to the break room, knowing that it'd be stocked with sandwiches. I grabbed a tuna on rye and headed to Ranger's office.

I shut the door behind me and settled back into Ranger's luxurious chair. I picked up the neatly folded note off the desk in front of me and unfolded it.

_MISSION HOUSEKEEPER_. It said at the top. Okay, I was intrigued.

I couldn't help but run my fingers over the sharp, precise lines of Ranger's writing as I read the note through.

_Babe, _

_Ella's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I'd like to throw a little party for her. I'm putting you in charge. The budget is listed below. Use any of the men that you need; they're good at keeping secrets. Be safe. I'll see you in the morning._

_R. _

I clapped once and rubbed my hands together. A birthday party, now this was my kinda mission.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! And don't forget to let me know what you thought! I'll probably be posting a couple more chapters of Between the Lines soon, so keep an eye out!


	16. Tracked

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Sorry for the wait, real life is kind of hectic right now; what with my online classes, work in the evenings, and playing nanny to my four year old nephew during the day. A new chapter of BtL is up. It takes place during ch. 13. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should go do that. Here's the next chapter of JL, enjoy!

* * *

I wasn't sure where I should start with Ella's party. I was saved deciding by a lot of loud cursing from the hallway.

I stood and went to the door. Opening it cautiously, I poked my head out.

Lester was standing in the middle of the control room, face red, fists clenched, curses flying out of his mouth like it was the only language he spoke.

"Fucking, sends me back here…Like I've got nothing better to do than sit on my fucking ass…Should be out there with the fucking rest of the core team…"

I stepped out of the office and shut the door behind me. I approached Lester slowly, receiving a lot of disbelieving stares in return. _Turn around_, they seemed to say. _Go back and hide in the boss's office_. In typical Stephanie Plum fashion, I ignored them.

"What's wrong, Les?"

He spun on me like he was going to continue his rant, then he seemed to register who I was and his hands fell limp to his sides.

"Fuck. I'm sorry, Stephanie. I didn't mean for you to witness my little hissy fit."

I took a few steps closer and asked him again, "What's wrong?"

He sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Ranger sent me back to be the com. go-between. I get to sit back here like a pussy and monitor communications between groups." He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the guys at the monitor. "No offense or anything." He turned back to me. "Meanwhile, my team is out there. He put Hal in charge of them. Shit, I should be out there. What the fuck was he thinking?"

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and hit speed dial one.

"Shit, Steph, I didn't mean…"

I held up a hand to cut him off and walked a little bit away so I'd have some privacy.

"Yo," Ranger answered.

"Why'd you send Santos back? We both know he'd be more of an asset in the field."

He was quiet for a moment, but I could hear him grinding his teeth. "Stay out of it, Stephanie. It's not your concern."

"The hell it isn't. He's over here swearing up a storm. He's worried about his team, Ranger. Why can't you send Hal in and let Lester go out and play?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Put him on."

"No. Not until you tell me why he's here and not Hal."

There was another stretch of silence, then Ranger gave a small sigh. "I need someone there I can trust. Lester's team is well-trained. They can handle this op without him. I need Lester there so I know there aren't any screw-ups with communication."

I absorbed this. It sounded like a good enough reason. Something told me there was more to it, but Ranger was probably busy, so I let it slide.

"Okay," I said.

"Now, put Santos on."

I walked over and handed the phone to Lester.

He glared at me before accepting the phone.

"Thanks a lot," he muttered under his breath. What? Was he afraid Ranger was going to chew him out? Shit, I hadn't thought of that.

"Sorry," I mouthed.

Lester put the phone to his ear.

"Yeah, R-man."

He listened for a moment, his eyes moving to the ceiling.

"Yeah, I got it, Ranger. I understand."

Ranger talked some more, and Lester's eyes slid back to mine. They narrowed and took on a new intensity, then he nodded concisely.

"You got it, primo. Tomaré cuidado bueno de su mujer."

Les handed the phone back to me.

"He wants to talk to you again."

"Ranger?" I said into the phone.

"I want you to let Les help you with your little Mission until I need him tonight. He knows Ella fairly well."

"Okay."

"I'll see you in the morning, amada." Then he hung up.

I glared at the phone for a moment before looking up at Les. I gave him my best I'm-so-sweet-and-innocent-give-me-whatever-I-want look.

"Oh no, no, no. You think you can get me with those big doe eyes," Les chuckled. "You've got another thing comin', chica."

I batted my eyelashes.

"But Ranger gave me a special _mission_," I told him quietly. "And I need your help."

He tipped his head back and closed his eyes for a moment. When he looked back down at me, his eyes held a combination of curiosity, resignation, and impending doom. I got that look a lot. Especially when the guys were on Steph watch. It was like they were expecting something to blow up. Go figure.

"Fine," Les sighed. "Lead the way."

I turned and led the way back to Ranger's office. Once the door was closed behind us, I handed Lester the note and sat down behind Ranger's desk.

Les sat on the sofa and read the short missive.

"_Use any of the men that you need_?" He quoted. "Shit, he makes us sound like weapons or tools to be handed out and passed around at will."

I stifled a giggle.

Lester's eyes narrowed.

"What do you need from me?"

"Well, Ranger said you know Ella pretty well."

Lester inclined his head. "Our families are friends. I don't know Ella real well, but I can help you with the guest list."

I took out the piece of paper I'd been jotting ideas on.

"Perfect."

"I know who can help," Lester said, taking out his phone. He pressed a speed dial number and waited while it rang.

"Eh, Hector. ¿Qué tal? ¿Cómo estás? Bueno. Escuche, necesitamos tu ayuda." Les glanced up at me. "Stephanie y yo. Sí."

He listened for a moment, then gave a short laugh. "No, no. Es el cumpleaños de Ella. Sí. Stephanie está organizar la fiesta."

Hey, I knew that one! Fiesta means party! Score one for the white girl.

Lester was still rambling on in Spanish, but I blocked the words out. I couldn't understand them anyway.

I logged onto Ranger's computer and opened a word document. I typed in what I had so far: Lester was handling the guest list. That was it. Super job, Plum.

"Sí. Gracias, Hector. Hasta mañana."

Les hung up and looked at me.

"Hector says that Ella likes to dance."

"Dance," I said. "Okay. How does Hector know that?"

Lester shrugged. "Hector likes to cook. They swap recipes and stuff. Ella likes to use her Spanish so she doesn't forget it, and Hector will talk to anyone who knows his language. I guess you could say they're…friends or something."

He looked a little surprised at his own realization. I stifled a laugh.

"Okay, dancing it is."

I typed it into my document and looked back at Lester. "Ummm, what kind of dancing?"

I couldn't imagine Ella doing the chicken dance or the electric slide. Those were both very popular party dances in the Burg. I smiled to myself as I imagined Ranger shaking his butt like a chicken.

"Flamenco, Rumba, Fandango. I asked Hector if he'd handle the music. He agreed."

Latino dances. I should have guessed. I had no idea how to dance any of those, but I could just sit them out. I was glad that Hector was handling the music, because I would have no idea where to even start.

Another thought struck me.

"If Ella and I are the only women, who will all of you men dance with?"

Lester was definitely amused as he answered. "Some of the men have wives or girlfriends or fiancés; they'll bring them. And there will be some single women there, too."

I cocked my head. "Who?"

"Ella has two unmarried daughters," he said with a grin. "Really hot, unmarried daughters."

I smiled back. "You think Ella would let _you_ date one of her daughters?"

His smile faded slightly as he seemed to think about it. "Probably not. But maybe I can convince her to let me have a dance or two."

I shook my head. I couldn't blame Ella. I probably wouldn't let any daughters of mine near a guy like Lester either. He was nice enough, sweet even, but he was known around Rangeman for his love 'em and leave 'em philosophy on dating.

"And Ranger's sisters will be there. Liliana and Rosita were still single the last time I asked. Lord knows why, they're gorgeous girls." He became thoughtful. "On second thought, I'm not sure I want my cousins up in here with all _these_ guys."

I let out a laugh. "If Ranger's sisters are anything like him, they can handle themselves."

"Well, I mean, there wouldn't be any ass-kicking, but they're pretty independent. Plus, Ranger, Mario, and Tio Ricardo will be there to keep them in line."

"Tio Ricardo?" I asked, my voice rising steadily. "But that's Ranger's dad. Does that mean his mom will be there, too?"

Lester just laughed.

Oh, shit. I was so not ready to meet the family. Ranger and I hadn't even discussed what was going on between us; if there was anything at all. I took a slow, deep breath to keep from hyperventilating. I felt hands on my arms and glanced down into Lester's concerned face. He was kneeling before me.

"Breathe, bomber. What, are you afraid that they won't like you? Because, believe me, they'll love you. All they want is for Ranger to find a nice girl and be happy. And he has…he is."

Ranger was happy? Well, I guess he had been smiling a lot more lately. Was that because of me? Stupid Stephanie, get out of your own head and pay attention.

"Yes, it's because of you, Stephanie. You're good for my cousin. Just like I think he's good for you." He cocked his head, like he was waiting for a response.

I nodded.

"Good," he said, rising and going back to the sofa. "Now what else do we need for this party thingy?"

I had to laugh. If the rest of Ranger's family was like him and Lester, I was pretty sure I could deal.

I looked at my list. Guests, dancing…

"Food," I said. "We need food."

"Food would be good."

I thought for a moment. Normally, I'd ask Ella for this sort of thing, but… Mom! My mother was in her element when she was cooking; especially for a whole bunch of people. I'd call and talk to her later.

"I think I've got the food covered," I told Lester. "And I'll call the bakery about a cake. Do you know Ella's favorite flavor?"

"Naw. Do like half and half or something. That way everybody's happy."

I nodded and made another note on the computer.

"What about drinks?"

Lester's grin was the widest I had ever seen.

"Alcoholic or…"

"Both," I said. "I want the guys who are on duty to have something, too."

"You leave the alcohol to me, bombshell. Doc Les will hook you right up."

I rolled my eyes.

"And I'll get Bobby to handle the non-alcoholic beverages," he assured me.

I noted both on my list.

"Guests, dancing, food, cake, drinks. Anything else?"

Les shook his head. "Sounds like a fiesta to me."

I saved the document and closed out of the program. Just as I was about to log off of the computer, an icon caught my eye. It was labeled 'Eliza'.

I thought back to that day in the café when Ranger had labeled us Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. I smiled.

"Wonder what this is," I said aloud, clicking on the icon.

Lester rushed around the desk. His eyes fell on the screen and he tried to push me out of the way.

"It's nothing, bomber. Nothing at all."

I shoved him away and glanced at the screen that had opened. It was a map of Trenton. There was a red dot located halfway down Haywood Street; right on top of the Rangeman building. I looked up at Lester.

"What is this?"

Lester had his eyes closed and he was rubbing the bridge of his nose. He was muttering under his breath.

"Shit…forgot to log off…Ranger's gonna kill us…"

"Lester," I said a little louder. "What is this?"

Lester's eyes hit mine and I knew by the cool, hard look in them that he was going to lie.

"Nothing, Steph. Just a map."

"Bullshit," I gasped. "This is a tracker. What is it tracking, Les?"

"It's…it's…it's tracking you, Steph. Okay? It's your tracker."

Somehow, I'd known that, but then why was Les acting so strangely.

"Okay," I said. "So what is it this time? Another pen? A tube of lip gloss?"

Lester was looking away from me, his eyes scanning the room as if looking for a way to escape.

"Something like that," he muttered.

"Well, I'll go get my purse and you can show me," I said. "How does Ranger get those trackers into all those little objects, anyway? And that pen really worked, you know."

"I know, bomber. But listen, you don't need to get your purse. Ranger would really rather you didn't know what the tracker was," his face cracked into a very fake smile. "Harder for you to ditch it that way."

My eyes narrowed.

"Okay," I said slowly.

Lester nodded, and his smiled warmed a bit, taking on a relieved quality.

"Good. Now, what are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?"

I thought about it. "I think I'll head upstairs and make a few phone calls."

I did have to call my mother, but that could wait. I had another plan in mind.

"Great. I'll be down here if you need me."

Lester walked me to the elevator and pressed the button for me.

* * *

Ten minutes later, I was up in Ranger's apartment, the contents of my purse strewn across the floor in front of me. That Sesame Street song about things belonging had been running through my head for the past five minutes. You know the one, _"Which one of these things is not like the others? Which one of these things just doesn't belong…"_

Problem was, they all belonged. There was not one thing here on Ranger's living room carpet that I didn't recognize as mine. Lester had lied to me.

I grabbed the landline and dialed down to five. Lance answered.

"Control room."

"Um, hi, it's Stephanie."

"What can I do for you, Miss Plum?"

Lance was new. Lance didn't know the 'Miss Plum' Rule. I let it slide. Bigger fish and all that.

"Can you send Lester up? Tell him it's an emergency." Then I hung up.

Poor Lance was probably shaking in his size fifteen combat boots. No doubt he'd heard the stories about the bombshell and her emergencies. He was probably having visions of blow-dryer/hairspray bombs.

Two and a half minutes later, Lester burst through the door. No knock, no hi-how-are-ya's. Just, "What is it, bombshell? What's on fire?"

I almost laughed at the terrified look on his face.

"No fire, Les."

I watched him glance once around the apartment, and waited until his eyes were on me and the contents of my purse. I saw the exact moment he realized what was going on. His eyes widened and his mouth opened on an exhale, then his blank face slammed into place.

"No tracker either, Les."

He continued to stare at me, his lack of expression unnerving.

"There was never any tracker, was there, Santos?"

When he didn't answer, I stood up.

"You'd better start talking, because I'm starting to freak out here."

What the hell had that thing been tracing? Lester had admitted that it was me, but…

"There was a tracker," Les finally said. "It was a keychain shaped like a daisy."

I vaguely remembered finding such a thing…in my other purse…which was back at my apartment, not here at Rangeman.

"Lester," I said. I'm sure my eyes were as big as saucers, because I was getting kind of scared. I mean, I trusted Ranger, but…

If it wasn't something in my purse, how could Ranger be sure that I had it on me at all times, unless…

"Oh God," I gasped. "Did he…did he put something _in_ me?"

I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt and turned my arm back and forth, looking for some sort of mark which might signify an injection site. It wasn't completely out of the question for Ranger to drug me and…

Lester grabbed my arm gently to stop my frantic search.

"There is nothing in you, Stephanie."

He put my hands in both of his and caught my eyes.

"You would have noticed that," he said. "There would have been an incision, and bruising afterwards. Besides, Ranger wouldn't do that. Not to you. To one of our enemies, maybe. But not you."

He held my eyes and my hands until I nodded, then he let go and stepped back.

"It isn't my place to explain this to you, Stephanie. To be honest, I don't even know the whole story. I have no idea what it's tracking. Just promise me that you won't freak out about this, because it really isn't a big deal."

"Then why can't you tell me?"

He sighed and looked off out the window.

"Because Ranger asked me not to, and I swore to him that I wouldn't. He's my cousin and my friend and my boss, bomber. I can't break a promise to him."

I bit my lip and forced myself to keep quiet. Lester wasn't going to say a word. I'd just have to bug Ranger about it later.

Lester's finger under my chin startled me.

"Don't bother Ranger about this right now. His life depends on him being able to concentrate, and he can't do that if he knows you're upset."

Had I been thinking about calling Ranger now? Huh, I guess I had.

"Cut it out with the ESP," I told Lester.

That got me a laugh. "Not ESP, beautiful. You're just easy to read."

I sighed. "What am I going to do until morning?" I mused aloud.

"You're going to keep busy and try not to worry."

I looked up at Les. "That's not possible."

His crooked smile helped to lighten the mood, as did his next sentence.

"I heard the guys downstairs discussing pizza. What do you say we go down and join them for a slice?"

I couldn't help but smile. Everyone knew that, for me, food was the best kind of distraction there was.

"Sure."

I took a few moments to stuff everything back into my purse, then I accompanied Lester down to five.

The pizza was great, as was the company, but the mystery tracker and Ranger's safety nagged at the back of my mind the entire time. I really wanted to call Ranger, but keeping him alive was more important than knowing what that 'Eliza' program was tracking. My fingers inched towards my cell phone a number of times, but I ignored them and grabbed another slice of pizza, or my cup of soda, or a brownie. I was going to get fat if I continued with this food distraction stuff.

I left the boys around eight and headed upstairs.

"The action will be starting soon," Lester told me just before I headed up. "You might want to go hang out in denial land on seven."

I took him up on that offer.

Now I was sitting cross-legged in the middle of Ranger's bed wearing one of his black t-shirts and a pair of bright red panties. I'd showered, I'd shaved, I'd brushed my teeth. It was 9:30 and I was going out of my mind.

What was happening? Were they fighting? Who was winning? Was Ranger okay? What about the Merry Men?

I was tempted to go downstairs and find out what Lester knew, but I knew that would be worse.

I couldn't stand the silence anymore. Finally, I stood up and went into the living room. I pulled the black fleece throw down over me and flicked on the TV.

There was a Mission Impossible marathon on, but that reminded me too much of Ranger. I flipped the channel. The Terminator. Road Warrior. Batman Returns. _Shit_.

I ended up on some girly, sappy romance flick and settled into the couch. The tears started right when the perfect, dark-haired hero returned to his blonde, waiflike love. Would I have that reunion? Would I wake up with Ranger's strong arms around me? Or would the next time I saw him be in a field filled with stones, his perfect face hidden behind a pine box?

I closed my eyes and cried myself to sleep right there on Ranger's sofa with the song from the movie's closing credits playing on into my dreams.

* * *

A/N: If you have a minute, let me know what you thought! How do you think the confrontation with Trotter will go? The actual confrontation will be posted on BtL because I think it's ging to be from Tank's POV. We'll see the results of said confrontation in the next chapter here. I'll post ASAP! Oh, and look for the next chapter of BtL -- Lester's conversation with Ranger from this chapter.

Translations:

Tomaré cuidado bueno de su mujer – I'll take good care of your woman.

¿Qué tal? ¿Cómo estás? Bueno. Escuche, necesitamos tu ayuda. – What's up? How are you? Good. Listen, we need your help.

Stephanie y yo. Sí. – Stephanie and I. Yes.

No, no. Es el cumpleaños de Ella. Sí. Stephanie está organizar la fiesta. – No, no. It's Ella's birthday. Yes. Stephanie is organizing the party.

Sí. Gracias, Hector. Hasta mañana. – Yes. Thank you, Hector. Until tomorrow/See you tomorrow.


	17. Shattered

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews! And thanks to everyone who's still reading, I love you guys. If you haven't been keeping up with Between the Lines, go read that now. Chapter 8 is the confrontation between Trotter and the Rangemen from Tank's POV. Best way to get reviews? Write a cliffhanger! LOL. So, here's Just Life. Ummm….don't hate me?

_

* * *

_

Previously in Just Life:

_Would I have that reunion? Would I wake up with Ranger's strong arms around me? Or would the next time I saw him be in a field filled with stones, his perfect face hidden inside of a pine box?_

_I closed my eyes and cried myself to sleep right there on Ranger's sofa with the song from the movie's closing credits playing on into my dreams. _

* * *

The first thing I registered were the voices. God, I thought, not this again. But it was sleep this time that was bogging me down, not drugs; and when I was finally able to peel my eyelids open, I saw that I was on Ranger's couch, the TV was still on, and it was morning.

I was up and on my feet in a moment. I practically ran to the bedroom. I froze at the sight of the empty, un-slept-in bed. He wasn't here. The bathroom was equally as empty as the bedroom, as was the office.

I guess I'd known that he wouldn't be here the minute I'd realized I was still on the couch. Ranger wouldn't have left me there. He'd said he wanted to come home to me in his bed. If he'd found me asleep on the couch, he would have moved me to the bed.

I turned to glance at the clock; maybe it was still too early. 9:30. Oh God.

I was out the door and in the elevator in a minute. The whole way down to five, I willed the thing to move faster.

Maybe he's just in his office, I told myself. In my heart, I knew that my hope was in vain.

I was out the doors before they'd fully opened. I slid to a stop in front of two Merry Men I didn't know.

"Where's Ranger?"

"He's at the hospital, ma'am."

I was running for the elevator even before he finished speaking.

"But, ma'am…"

It wasn't until I got to the garage that I realized I had no car keys.

My eyes caught on one of the emergency Rangeman SUVs. They were always left unlocked, maybe… Bingo! The keys were in the ignition.

I turned the thing on and swung out of the parking spot. The gate flew up all by itself right before I would have rammed it.

Now, here's the thing about panic, it makes all of your other thought processes shrivel up and die. I don't remember anything about the drive to the hospital. I don't remember stopping for red lights, or slowing for turns. All I know is that I made the 12 minute drive in about six.

I left the car in the half-circle driveway, keys in the ignition. The door might have been open, too, who knows. All I knew was that if someone wanted that vehicle, they could have at it.

I skipped check-in and all those pleasantries and went straight to the ICU. The nurse behind the desk looked up at me with wide eyes and cleared her throat.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Ricardo Carlos Manoso," I said, giving her Ranger's full name.

"I'm sorry, our systems are down right now. Some virus or something. Records for anyone checked in after noon yesterday are inaccessible."

I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. When I opened them again, she was watching me with concerned, grey eyes.

"He would have come in late last night or, um, early this morning."

"What was he checked in for?" She asked.

Shit. I had no idea. I hadn't paused long enough in the control room to find out.

"Umm, gunshot wound, or a knife wound, or…"

"Ahh," she said and the concern changed to dismay. "He came in with that gang fight, yes?"

I nodded. I guess to an outsider, it would have looked like a gang war.

"Those gangs," she sighed sadly. "I hear two cops almost died last night trying to break it up."

Cops? Shit, Stephanie, focus. I shook my head.

"He's not a cop."

"Tell me what he looks like, dear," she said with a degree of pity.

"Tall," I said, trying to control my growing panic. "About six two. Long black hair, dark brown eyes, warm brown skin. Latino."

Her head was shaking and her eyes were sad. My heart slammed against my ribcage.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I hate to be the one to tell you, but I do remember him. Fine looking man. Came in with two gunshot wounds to the chest." Her eyes found mine and I took an involuntary step back. "He didn't make it. One of his men identified him this morning. I'm so sorry for your loss, dear."

She kept talking, but I didn't hear a word of it. My ears were ringing, my head swimming, all I could hear were the words _'didn't make it'_ and _'sorry for your loss'_ repeating over and over again. Those words meant that he was…that Ranger was…

I stumbled away until my legs found a chair, then I collapsed into it, letting gravity pull my head between my knees. I was going to be sick. An errant thought entered my head, pointing out that it was a good thing I hadn't eaten breakfast. I wasn't sure I could ever eat again.

The clanging in my head gradually lessened, but the hollow, empty feeling in the pit of my stomach did not subside. It roiled and burned, all at the same time, somehow making the horror even that much more real. I couldn't deny the actual physical pain this revelation was causing me. Ranger…

No. No, no, no, no, no.

The word repeated over and over again in my mind as if the word itself could stop all of this from being real. It couldn't. Ranger was dead.

I pulled myself upright and wrapped my arms around my middle as a sob wracked my body. Then another. And another. If I let go, I knew, I would crumble into millions of tiny pieces.

Ranger was gone. Never again would I see the blank face, or the evil smirk, or the lascivious wolf grin. I'd never again feel his arms around me or feel his warm hand on the back of my neck. That tingle that came only with his presence was silenced forever. He'd never try to lock me up again, never assign men to follow me against my will. He'd never kill for me again, I though with a shudder. He'd never die for me, because he was already…

God, it hurt. It hurt more than I ever imagined it could. It hurt so deep down that my soul itself must have been bleeding. How could I long so intensely even for those parts of him which drove me up the wall? _Easy_, my mind answered, _You love him, faults and all_. Love him. No, _loved_ him. Ranger…

I didn't realize that my face was wet with tears until someone used a tissue to wipe them away.

A hand rubbed my back and I clutched myself tighter.

'_Don't touch me!'_ I wanted to yell. _'You're not him.'_ But there was no way my voice was finding its way past the sobs.

He wasn't gone…couldn't be…not now, not when we'd just…Oh God, no.

I was vaguely aware of a voice in my ear, low and soft and just a tad bit urgent.

"Cupcake."

My brain registered the word through the haze of sorrow and my body shied away from the touch that went with it.

"Cupcake, breath."

But I couldn't. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't speak. Could barely hold my own head up.

When I finally forced my eyes up, Joe was sitting in the plastic hospital chair beside me, his hand on my shoulder, his face a mask of concern.

"Get…get away," I rasped, scooting out from under his hand and into the next chair.

"Are you okay, cupcake? I mean, I know you care about the guy, but…"

If I could have gotten my hand up, I would have slapped him. As it was, I gasped in indignation.

"How dare you! I…I…I loved him, and now he's…"

"Bombshell?"

I spun around at the sound of Bobby's voice. Oh, the reminder of Ranger stung, but it was so good to see a friendly, familiar face. I was up and out of my chair in a moment, flinging myself into Bobby's chest.

His arms came up around me slowly and he patted my back.

"Please, bomber, you need to breathe."

"I…I…I need to s-see him, B-Bobby."

I couldn't see his face, because mine was buried in his chest – and even if it hadn't been, the tears were obstructing my vision just fine on their own – but I could imagine the pain there as he froze for a moment.

"Uh, okay. But you need to calm down, bombshell." He took my shoulders and moved me away from him. "Breathe, Steph. That's it, deep breaths. Everything's going to be okay."

Everything was not going to be okay. Ranger was gone. Dead. He'd left me.

The tears started again and I took deep, shuddering breaths, trying to suppress them.

Bobby pulled me into his side, my face in his shoulder and rubbed my back with his free hand. "Come on, bomber. I'll take you to him."

I kept my head glued to Bobby's shoulder as we moved slowly down a hallway or twelve. I'd lost count as soon as we'd started walking. We paused so Bobby could open a door. He walked me forward a few paces, then stepped away from me.

"It's okay, bombshell. You can open your eyes now."

It wasn't okay. It would never be okay again, because the other half of my heart was lying dead on a bed in this very room. I couldn't open my eyes, couldn't force myself to see Ranger—big, strong, perfect Ranger—still and unmoving, never to move again.

I felt hands on my shoulders, then Bobby's voice was at my ear.

"Steph, really, he's had worse."

My eyes flew open.

"He's had wor…"

The angry words froze in my throat as I looked down at the bed. Tank lay there, eyes closed, huge chest moving up and slowly down, tubes and wires sticking out everywhere.

"He got one to the chest, and one to the back. They missed anything major, but the docs had to go in and get them out. He'll be fine, bomber, really."

All I could do was blink. I'd been ready, I thought, to see Ranger lying there in that bed, still and cold. The sense of relief was so overwhelming that I would have collapsed had Bobby's arms not chosen that moment to come around my waist. How could Bobby have thought I was talking about Tank?

Then the tears began to pour out anew. I'd have to do it all over again. I'd have to force myself to move, and then open my eye and see Ranger…

"R-Ranger," I gasped, unable to force anything else out.

"Oh," Bobby's face was blank again as he replied evenly. "He's in the next room."

I repeated the horrible blind walk with Bobby. By now, my head was swimming again and all I could hear was the buzzing in my ears. Bobby might have tried to talk to me, but I heard nothing.

I felt him open a door, and I knew that we were in another room by the change in the atmosphere. The air was closer here, more stifling. I wanted to run out screaming.

I kept my eyes closed until Bobby deposited me somewhere in the middle of the room.

"Bombshell?"

But I was already opening my eyes, gasping at what was in front of me.

The skin was too white, the shoulders too narrow, the face too round. Red hair pooled on the pillow instead of black. Hal.

"Bu-but…"

"Babe?"

I froze before turning slowly to the back of the room. I wasn't sure how much more I could take. But it sounded like him, it…

There he was, slouched down in a padded grey hospital chair, eyelids drooping, but otherwise unharmed.

My hand flew to my mouth as a sob escaped and the tears fell unchecked down my cheeks.

"Babe? What is it?"

All I could do was shake my head as I moved slowly across the room to him.

He sat up straighter, his arms opening to me, and I fell into them, into him. He was solid and warm and clearly alive. He nodded to something behind me, and I vaguely registered the sound of a door shutting.

"Shhh," Ranger murmured, hands stroking down my hair and back. "Why the tears, babe?"

"Th-the nurse. She…she t-t-told me you were d-dead."

Apparently that was all Ranger needed because he crushed me to him and pressed his face into my hair, inhaling deeply. And though his arms were so tight around me that it was almost painful, I could finally breathe again.

"Oh, God, babe. I'm fine. I'm right here. I'm fine. I'm right here." He repeated the mantra until the tears stopped and I could breath normally again. Then he pulled back and looked into my eyes.

"I tried to call you to let you know I was here, but you didn't answer. Tank and Hal got hit and I had to stay with them. I'm so sorry, Stephanie." He pressed his forehead to mine and his eyes slid shut. "I am so sorry. I don't know who she was talking about. Must have been one of Trotter's men. Most of them didn't fare so well."

"Are…are Tank and Hal…"

Ranger pulled back and looked over at Hal on the bed. "Tank will be fine, he's just drugged up from surgery. Hal took one to the abdomen, through and through, and one nicked his carotid. He lost a lot of blood." Ranger shook his head sadly. "It's been touch and go. We're just hoping he'll wake up soon." His eyes moved from Hal and settled back on me. "Are you going to be okay, babe? I'm so sorry I scared you."

Oh, God. Ranger wasn't dead. He was here holding me, very much alive. I was going to kill that nurse. And Morelli…

I pitched Morelli from my mind like the garbage that he was, and focused back on Ranger.

I placed on hand on either side of his face. His beard had grown in a bit overnight and the stubble tickled my fingers and palms. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and one of his lips was cracked. I placed a gentle kiss on each eye, then on his lip.

Ranger moaned and held me tighter.

"Are you really gonna be okay, amada?" He whispered.

I nodded against his lips.

"Good. Because as much as I love having you here, maybe you should go home and change. What goes for Lester goes for the rest of Trenton, as well."

It was only then that I glanced down and realized that I was barefoot, wearing only Ranger's t-shirt and my red panties.

"Oops."

"Babe."

"They told me you were at the hospital and I didn't know…"

"You thought I was hurt," he finished softly.

I nodded.

"So you sped over here half-naked to see me."

I nodded again.

There was a small Ranger sigh, then, "I love you, babe."

I froze.

"What?"

Ranger's eyes flew to mine, and then his face was blank and I felt like crying all over again.

"What?" He echoed.

"Did you just…What did you say?"

He looked at a spot over my left shoulder.

"Nothing."

"Ranger." I tugged his face back to mine. "Did you mean it?"

He didn't answer, just continued to stare at me, looking almost…scared?

"Ranger? Is this like before? How you love me in your own way, the way that comes with a condom and not a ring. Because…"

"No," he answered immediately. "And yes, I meant it, babe. I've meant it for a long time now. But you don't have to say anything. We can just drop it."

He started to push me gently off of him, but I shoved as hard as I could on his shoulders until he stilled.

"I love you, too," I practically whispered.

Funny how easy the words came when I was talking to Ranger. I'd had to practically force them out for Joe.

There was that fear in his eyes again. "Really?"

I couldn't help the wide smile that graced my own face then.

"Really, really."

His eyes absolutely lit up.

"So, this isn't like last time?" I asked cautiously.

He shook his head. "No, but we'll talk about that later."

He stood, bringing us both to our feet, and grabbed my hand.

"Come with me. Now."

He tugged me into his arms as we left the room and headed down a nearly deserted hallway. I couldn't keep up with the twists and turns, because his warm breath in my ear and his hands on my hips were making it difficult to concentrate.

He paused at the open door to an empty exam room and shoved me gently inside. He locked the door after shutting it and turned back to me, his eyes dark and predatory.

"I need to be inside of you," he said, his voice low and smooth as velvet. He stalked steadily towards me.

I'm pretty sure I let out a moan.

"I missed you so much last night. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that you were safe and waiting for me."

"Oh, God," I gasped as he trapped me up against the back wall, his hands planted on either side of my face.

"Close. But you can call me Carlos," he said with a full-on wolf grin.

Then his lips were on mine, starting off rough and demanding, and slowing down to an intensely passionate mating of tongues. His hips rocked into mine, the hard evidence of his arousal very apparent against my core, and all the breath left my lungs in a rush.

"I missed you, too," I whispered when our lips parted.

He groaned deeply against my throat, then his lips were moving downwards, biting and nipping; his tongue laving over each new mark.

"What…what if someone comes in?" I asked through a dark haze of passion.

"Locked it," Ranger replied, his hands already at the hem of the large t-shirt, pulling it up and over my head.

"They m-might have keys."

Ranger didn't answer. He was too busy staring avidly at my bare chest. He growled low in his throat, then his hands and lips were on me, tugging and sucking, bringing the sizzle in my blood to a slow boil.

"Carlos," I moaned.

"That's right, babe." His hot eyes caught mine and his grin was devastating. "We're going to do this, and it's going to be good."

Then I couldn't think as he pulled off my panties and moved his hands downwards. I gasped at the first touch, my head spinning with the sensations, my toes curling against the cold tile.

Ranger was naked before I could get my head wrapped around what was happening, and then he picked me up and set me down on the paper-covered exam table.

"Carlos, please."

"I love it when you beg, babe."

He spread my thighs, placing each foot on a stirrup and I didn't think I'd ever be able to look at my OBGYN office in the same way.

"Mmmm," Ranger hummed as his magical fingers found my core, and his lips latched onto one peaked nipple.

I moaned and threw my head back, lost in him, in the sensations he was creating.

Then he was kneeling on the floor, his head between my legs and I was gone, off into space, bursting into particles of light and feeling.

He was hovering over me when I finally came back down, his smile languid, his eyes holding such depth of emotion that I felt like crying.

"Now," I said, tugging him forward by his forearms. "In me. Please."

"As you wish, m'lady," he whispered, and entered me on one hard thrust.

His hands were on my hips, holding me in place, his hips surging and retreating in a dance as old as time. All I could do was wrap my legs around his waist and pray for my eternal soul, because surely anything this miraculous was against some divine law.

The friction was almost too much after my orgasm. I was absolutely shaking as Ranger leaned down and captured my lips with his. His fingers interlaced with mine, one on each side of my head, and his thrusts slowed, drawing out the pleasure, making the moment more intimate than anything I'd ever experienced in my life. I rejoiced in every inch of him, felt each ridge as he pushed slowly in and withdrew with just as much control. But I didn't want control; not right now, anyway. I wanted Ranger, the real Ranger, out of control, just as lost to sensation as I was.

I clenched my inner muscles around him and sucked his tongue into my mouth. He groaned and his hips picked up the pace, almost of their own accord.

"Dios, amada," he growled, and pulled me into his arms, our chests pressed tightly together. "Te amo. Te amo más que nada."

I'm pretty sure it was his words and what I knew they must mean that set me over the edge. I gasped his name as the pleasure coalesced, then his lips were on mine, stifling both of our voices as the mother of all orgasms swept through me and I felt him shudder and spill deep, deep inside of me.

He was still inside of me, still holding me close when heaven disappeared and the room reformed around us.

"Babe," he breathed.

"Batman."

He laughed as he slid out of me and surveyed the evidence of our lovemaking.

Our clothes were strewn around the room in disarray. I could feel that the paper covering on the table below me was torn and wrinkled. I was sure there was a mess between my thighs.

Ranger stepped away for a moment and came back with tissues which he used to gently wipe me clean. When he was finished, he tossed them in a biohazard bin.

"Handy," he said.

I rolled my eyes.

Ranger bent down and grabbed my panties and the t-shirt I'd been wearing and handed them to me.

I had the shirt halfway over my head when there was a knock on the door.

"Hello?" A female voice said. "This room is not supposed to be locked. Who is in there?"

There was a jingle of keys from just outside the door. I glanced frantically at Ranger. He was already dressed and moving towards me. He tugged the t-shirt down over me and pulled me into his arms just as the door opened and a harassed-looking doctor looked up at us.

"You can't be…" Her eyes widened behind her thick, round glasses as she took in the sight of us.

Ranger put his hand quickly to the back of my head and pushed it into his shoulder.

"We're so sorry," he said to the doctor. "She needed someplace quiet to calm down." He spoke quietly, confidentially. "Her fiancé was injured in the shootout last night."

I scrunched my face up and pinched him on the arm that was facing away from the doctor.

"Oh…"

"She was so worried about him that she rushed over here without even getting dressed this morning. Love, you know? Makes you do silly things."

The woman was quiet for a moment and I could imagine her nodding along sagely. I couldn't stifle the giggle.

Ranger's arms tightened around me.

"Poor girl just can't stop crying," he said, his voice rumbling right out of his chest and into mine.

"Oh, of course," the doctor said. "You take all the time you need, I'll use another room."

"Actually," Ranger called out as she apparently made to leave the room. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find some pants for her, maybe some slipper socks."

"Of course, I'll go grab some for you."

I heard the charm-smile in his voice as he answered, "Thank you."

As soon as the door clicked closed, I pulled back and smacked Ranger on the chest.

"What?" He asked, smile still in place, rubbing his sternum where I'd hit him.

"Fiancé?" I asked.

"Well, it kept us out of trouble, didn't it?"

I raised both eyebrows at him and poised my hand to strike him again. He pulled me back into his chest a second before the door swung open.

"Here you are," the doctor said softly. "Take as long as you need in here." I felt her hand lightly on my shoulder as she said, "I hope your fiancé is alright, dear." Then she left.

Ranger was laughing silently by the time I pulled away from him.

I resisted the urge to smack him again. Instead, I took the pants and socks from the exam table where the doctor had left them and put them on.

Ranger had himself under some semblance of control when I looked back up at him.

"It is so not funny," I told him as he wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me towards the door. "Macho army man finds getting caught amusing," I muttered.

"Admit it," he whispered in my ear, "it was a little bit funny."

I peered up at him as he opened the door. He was looking back at the room behind us. I followed his gaze. The paper from the exam table was almost completely torn off. What was left on the table held the distinct wrinkled outline of a rear end. My rear end. I snorted.

"Okay," I said, turning my back on the room and leading Ranger out into the hallway. "It was a little funny."

* * *

A/N: You didn't seriously think I'd kill Ranger, did you? LOL. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to let me know what you thought.

Tranlations:

Te amo. Te amo más que nada. – I love you. I love you more than anything.


	18. Held Up

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: I am sooo sorry for the wait. I was sick for awhile and writing just required too much energy, then I had to catch up on the homework I'd been putting off. Ah well, here you are. Enjoy!

_

* * *

_

Previously in Just Life:

_Steph rushed to the hospital following the Rangeman confrontation with Trotter. There was a bit of a misunderstanding and it took awhile for Steph to figure out that it was Tank and Hal who were injured, not Ranger. A bit of exam table smut. ;)_

* * *

Bobby was standing outside of Hal's room, peering in through the glass, when we walked up.

"Report," Ranger murmured more gently than I've ever heard him with his men.

"No progress," Bobby replied without turning. "But he's not any worse either."

Ranger nodded and took a few steps forward so that we were standing next to Bobby at the window. Hal was as we'd left him, pale and unmoving on the bed, his chest rising and falling slowly.

Suddenly, beeping filled the room and hallway, an alarm going off. Nurses came rushing from up the hall, a doctor or two on their heels.

"He's flat-lining," one of the nurses called, and then the flurry was impossible to follow. One of the nurses pulled the shades over the window and we were cut off from the activity within the room.

Ranger's arms tightened around my waist and I clutched his hands over my abdomen. Bobby was gritting his teeth beside us.

"In the army," Ranger said softly, "you learn to expect that not all of your men will make it home in one piece. It's just a fact of life out there. But you never really get used to it."

"He could be fine," I whispered, not even sure if they would hear me over the commotion on the other side of the glass.

"Your optimism," Ranger whispered in my ear, "is another reason why I love you."

I had to be optimistic, had to believe that Hal would be okay, because if he wasn't it was really all my fault, wasn't it? They had gone out there, after Trotter, because of me.

"This was _not_ your fault, babe. Trotter was on our radar long before Mortars targeted you, or you fell into Trotter's hands."

My train of thought took on a whole new set of questions. What would have happened if Lester had been out there instead of Hal? Would Lester be okay? Or would he be the one in there on a hospital bed fighting for his life?

"Mr. Manoso?" A man in a white coat walked towards us at Ranger's nod.

"Mr. McGovern went into cardiac arrest. We were able to revive him and he is stable for now. If he doesn't wake up soon, I'm afraid his chances don't look very good."

Mr. McGovern?

"Hal," Ranger said into my ear.

"Thank you, Doctor," Bobby said.

Bobby turned to us once the doctor was gone.

"Why don't you guys head back to Rangeman and get some rest. I'll stay with Hal until the next shift."

"What about Tank?" I asked.

"Lula's with him," Bobby replied with a hint of a grin. "She was not happy with you for letting him get hurt, my man."

"Fuck," Ranger muttered. I'm sure the last thing he wanted right now was to deal with Lula in rhino-mode.

"If I were you, I'd get the hell out of Dodge," Bobby instructed.

Ranger decided to take advice for once.

* * *

"That bastard," I heard Ranger mutter as we ascended in the elevator to the seventh floor of Rangeman.

"What?" I asked, turning in his arms so that I could look up into his face. "Who?"

"Tank."

"_Excuse_ me?"

He looked down at me and his lips tipped up fractionally.

"The bullet he took, it was meant for me."

That took all the air right out of me. Someone had been shooting at Ranger? Well, duh, Plum. He probably gets shot at more than even _you_ do.

"So, he…he took a bullet for you?" I asked quietly, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Ranger had almost been shot.

"Yeah, babe."

"And that makes him a bastard."

"Yeah, babe."

I stared at him even as the elevator doors slid open and he ushered me out into the hall.

"I don't understand."

He was quiet as he opened the door to the apartment and pushed me gently through it. He shut and locked the door, then led me to the couch and sat down. I moved to sit beside him, but he pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around me.

"How would you feel if I jumped in front of a bullet that was meant for you?"

I tried to pull away so that I could turn around and gape at him, but he wouldn't let me.

"Answer the question, babe."

"Well, that would be stupid of you because…"

"Exactly."

"What?"

His arms tightened around me and he spoke next close to my ear. "It's hard enough to know that someone you care about is hurt. It's even harder knowing that it should have been you, that they're hurt because of you."

"But, Ranger…"

"It might not be right or sane or even logical, babe, but it's the way I feel, okay?"

I swallowed hard to keep the words from bubbling up, and nodded.

"In a day or two, I'll be over it and I'll thank Tank for saving my life, again, but for now just let me be mad at him. It's my way of dealing."

It was kind of strange, but I could see exactly what he was saying. If it had been Ranger getting shot by a bullet meant for me, I would have felt the same way. Who'd have thought that Batman and I would have similar coping techniques?

"Okay, Ranger."

"Good." He sighed softly and nuzzled his face into my hair.

I couldn't help the shiver it elicited.

"So, um, you love me?" I almost slapped my hand right over my mouth after that one. What the hell was I thinking? This was all so new and fragile, how could I say something so stupid and…

"Yeah, babe, I do."

I sat as still as I could. Did I hear him right? Was he actually answering questions without sexual innuendos or confusing qualifiers? I decided that I might as well push it.

"And, um, it's not like last time?"

"No, babe, it's not."

"So, what's it like?"

His hands came down to my waist and he turned me so that I was sideways on his lap and we could see each other's faces.

"I love you. Period."

"In your own way," I amended.

"In every way."

"But you said…"

"I said a lot of things, babe."

Okay, here was the Ranger I knew. Short, confusing answers that told me nothing of interest. God help me.

"Your love comes with a condom, you don't do stupid things like marriage, I'm entertainment. Shall I go on?"

His eyes closed briefly and I saw what I'm pretty sure was pain etch itself onto his face before he opened his eyes and it disappeared.

"You have to understand, amada. I really _wasn't_ in a position to be in a relationship then. Besides, I'd been watching you go back to Morelli over and over again for more than a year. Every time the two of you broke up, you went back to him. You couldn't really expect me to lay it all out there and have you throw it in my face when you went back to the cop."

"But you sent me back to him." Was this really how Ranger felt? Was he really more vulnerable than he let on? Apparently.

"Once."

"That night after we…you just walked out. You didn't say a goddamn word except to tell me to fix things with Joe. It hurt, Ranger. It hurt more than I thought it could."

"And I'm sorry for that, babe. But I had no way of knowing that you wouldn't go back to him anyway. I was protecting myself, babe. I was protecting my heart."

One of his hands was running gently up and down my back. With the other, he tipped my chin up and caught my eyes.

"I'm not Batman, babe. I'm not Superman. I'm just a man, with a heart, and a weakness for accident-prone brunettes." His smile was soft and warm. "It hurt me every time you went back to him, but I couldn't do anything about it. So I sent you back to him before you could do it on your own and hurt me even more."

"Ranger…"

He ignored me and went on. "I wasn't a free agent, babe. I couldn't fight for you, take you from him, when I had nothing to give you, not even me. I wasn't about to start a relationship with you when I could be called away for anywhere from a week to two years. And there was always the chance that I wouldn't come home at all."

I'm pretty sure I was crying at this point, but I couldn't move to swipe at the moisture on my face.

"It would have hurt me anyway," I whispered, "if you hadn't come home."

Ranger's hands came up to cup my face and his fingers chased the tears off my cheeks.

"I know. And it kills me to think about it."

I took a deep breath. "But now you're a…a free agent."

He remained silent, his fingers tracing nonsense patterns on my cheeks. The silence scared me. When Ranger's quiet, he's either mad or he's hiding something.

"Ranger?"

"I kind of walked out on the final debriefings… so that's still unclear."

He wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Ranger!"

Suddenly his eyes were on mine, and they were blazing. My breath caught in my throat.

"You were in trouble, Stephanie, and I couldn't just sit there and listen to those suits babble while you were out there in the hands of Trotter and his lackies. I couldn't, babe. I just…"

"But, Ranger…"

I'm sure he could hear the panic in my voice, see the hysteria beginning in my eyes. They weren't taking him from me again, not now that I finally had him.

He tucked me into his chest and rested his chin on top of my head.

"Hopefully they'll send the paperwork, I'll sign it, and it'll be over. But if not, I'm done anyway. I'm not waiting for you any longer, Stephanie. And I'm not leaving you again. I'll take you away and hide us out before I do that."

I peered up at him, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth despite the seriousness of his tone.

"Who says I'd go with you?"

"…babe?"

"Oh, who am I kidding? I love you, Carlos. If it came to that, of course I'd run away with you."

"Babe," he growled.

I could feel the rumble in his chest, next to my ear. Then he was pulling me up and crashing his lips to mine and I gave him everything in that kiss; every fear, every doubt, every moment of sadness and hope and ecstasy we'd ever experienced. I gave him all my love, all my heart, all my soul. And later, when we moved to the bedroom, I gave him all the rest of me.

* * *

"Mmmm, babe, you really have to let me get up now or I won't make it down to the office at all today."

Awww, that's just too bad now, isn't it, I thought as I licked a line from his nipple up to his neck.

"Babe," he groaned. "It's already 9:30. If it were any other day, know that I would stay here in a second, but I've got a meeting with an important client in half an hour."

"Fine," I grumbled, rolling away from him and crossing my arms over my chest.

He followed me, placing one hand on either side of my head and leaning down to capture my lips.

"What are your plans for today?" He murmured against my lips.

"I don't know," I huffed, still playing annoyed. "I thought I might go by the bank and deposit the last few checks I got from Connie before this mess started. Then I might go to my apartment."

His eyes narrowed. "To get some stuff?"

I blinked up at him a few times. "Huh?"

"You're just going to swing by to get some more clothes and stuff, right?"

"Umm."

One of his hands came over to cup my cheek, his finger running back and forth across my lower lip.

"Babe? You'll be back tonight, right?"

"You…you want me to stay here? You're not sick of me yet?"

He sat down beside me and pulled me into his lap.

"Babe, I could never get sick of you. And besides, this mess isn't over yet, we still haven't found Mortars."

Right, I thought, the bad guy. So that's why he doesn't want me to leave yet.

"Babe," he said, pulling my face around to look at him. "I want you here, always. Even once we find Mortars. I love going to bed with you, waking up with you in my arms. I love the thought of you being here when I get home from work. Stay with me, Stephanie."

I couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, I merely nodded and then buried my head in his chest before he could see the tears of joy forming in my eyes.

"Babe," he chuckled. "Just wait until I bring you to the Batcave."

I think I might have hyperventilated had he not chosen that moment to distract me with another scorching kiss.

"Alright, now I really have to go," he murmured once he'd pulled away. "Take one of the guys with you if you go anywhere."

"Lester?"

I'm pretty sure he growled.

"If that will make you happy."

Silly jealous Ranger. He had to know that there was no other man on the planet as far as I was concerned; not now that I finally had my very own Batman.

* * *

An hour later, after a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, compliments of Ella, I was riding shotgun in a black SUV, Lester in the driver's seat.

"So you and Rangeman finally get your acts together?"

I kept my head studiously turned to the window.

"I don't think that's really any of your business."

I could hear the laughter in his voice as he replied. "But you did, didn't you? Good for you."

"Yeah, um, thanks."

"It's about time you two realized you were meant for each other."

I turned to him with a raised eyebrow…okay, eye_brows_.

"Very poetic coming from Rangeman's resident 'playa'."

He shrugged. "I'm not really as bad as the guys like to pretend. I mean, yeah, I get a lot of ladies, but I'm no heartbreaker. They all know going in that it is what it is."

"And what is it?"

He looked uncomfortable. But, no it had to be my imagination, because when was Lester Santos ever uncomfortable about anything?

"They know it's not a commitment. They know it's all about the sex."

"Ahhh," I said, nodding sagely. "So you've got commitment issues, like Ranger. Must run in the family."

He glanced at me quickly out of the corner of his eye. "No, not like Ranger. Ranger is perfectly willing to settle down, he just felt that he couldn't for a long while there. Now that he's found you and the government contract isn't hanging over his head, I think he'll be as committed as it's possible to be."

"And you?"

He was quiet for awhile. We pulled into the bank parking lot and Les parked the car, but made no move to get out.

"I was engaged for awhile, you know?"

I hadn't known. It seems there was a lot I didn't know about Lester.

"Anyway, it didn't work out. Since then, I guess I kind of just refrain from making any real connections, harder to get hurt that way."

"Doesn't it get lonely?" I asked quietly.

"As hell," he muttered. When he turned to me there was a bright smile on his face. "What do you say we go deposit those checks?"

I nodded, still processing the fact that my perceptions about Lester had all been pretty much wrong.

He was around, opening my door in a moment, and a few minutes after that we were standing in one of those horrendously long lines that seem to move like one inch every twenty minutes.

"Les, how come your engagement didn't…"

"Everybody on the ground!"

I turned to the door with a groan. Was this just my luck or what? Three guys stood just inside the bank's doors, all dressed in black from head to toe, all carrying Glocks. How clichéd was that?

"Oh shit. Oh fuck," I heard Lester mutter from beside me.

"I said everybody down!" The tallest guy yelled.

Lester grabbed my arm and put us both on the floor.

The tall guy moved over to the teller, pointed his gun right at her head, and started demanding that all the money be put in the bag. Stupid unimaginative bank robbers.

"Do something," I muttered to Les.

He looked at me like I'd grown another head. "What the fuck do you want me to do? There are three of them. I pull a gun on one and the other two start shooting."

Damnit, he was right. Too bad that security guard over by the doors looked like he was about a hundred and ready to expire. And my own gun was still at home in my cookie jar…

"You got another gun?" I whispered.

"Yes," he admitted, "but I am _not_ giving it to you."

"Why not?" I'm pretty sure I was whining, but really, I wasn't _that_ bad a shot.

"First of all, you have very little training. This is one of those get-'em-with-the-first-shot-or-civilians-die scenarios. Second, that still leaves a guy uncovered."

"The security guard…"

"Is about ready to pass out."

Or pass on, one or the other.

Lester was shaking his head. "No. We bunker down and try to be invisible until the negotiators get here, just like everyone else. You got me?"

I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, looking for the positions of the robbers. The tall guy was still with the teller, the smallest guy was across the room with his gun on some hostages, the fat guy was peeking out the window.

And there beside him, tucked under the sill, was Edwin Mortars.

I grabbed Lester's arm so hard that he winced and muttered, "ow".

"Shhh," I said, then nodded at the window.

"Nice fucking way to get taken out by a sniper," Les chuckled.

"No. Look lower."

"Oh, fuck," he whispered. "Oh shit. Oh crap. Ranger's gonna have my balls in a sling."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes again.

"He seen you?" Les asked.

"I don't know." Mortars was looking away from us, towards the tall guy with the teller. "I don't think so."

We were silent for several moments. I was watching Mortars, Lester was probably cataloguing everyone's positions and body masses and the trajectory of bullets and …

A gun went off and pretty much everyone screamed.

Lester pushed me behind him and I saw his hand move to the gun tucked into the waistband of his cargos.

I peeked around his arm and saw the small guy in the corner with his gun aimed at the ceiling. There was plaster dust everywhere; on the ground, on his clothes, in his hair. It would have been comical had I not been so scared I was about to pee myself.

"Cell phones, PDAs, any other fucking communication device you got, here, pile, now!" He shouted, pointing to a spot near the center of the floor.

Cell phones slid across the marble in a rush. A twenty-something year old girl with blonde hair was sobbing. Probably she was the offending party; tried to make a call or something.

I looked wistfully down at my own phone for a moment. Batman was just two buttons away. I slid it into the pile with everyone else's.

I saw Les's thumb move to the end key on his phone before he sent it to join mine.

"What…"

"Rangeman," he whispered. "Shh."

Sneaky, sneaky. I hadn't even noticed him reach for his phone. This meant that Ranger was likely out there already, pissed as hell, I was sure. And a pissed Ranger was a deadly Ranger. These stupid bank robbers had a big, scary, gun-toting surprise coming their way.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who's still reading and reviewing! Don't forget to let me know what you thought.

Again, sorry for the long wait. My Plum muse left me for awhile and demanded my attention on a couple of Bones fics that I've got in the works. I'll probably be posting one of them soon, so if you like Bones, check it out!


	19. Negotiated

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing! I know I said I'd have this up by Wed., who knew Thanksgiving could be so much work! And, FYI, what little I know about hostage negotiations comes from the show Criminal Minds, so I'm sure there are many, many mistakes. Forgive me. Anyway, happy belated Thanksgiving! Enjoy!

_

* * *

_

I saw Les's thumb move to the end key on his phone before he sent it to join mine.

"_What…"_

"_Rangeman," he whispered. "Shh."_

_Sneaky, sneaky. I hadn't even noticed him reach for his phone. This meant that Ranger was likely out there already, pissed as hell, I was sure. And a pissed Ranger was a deadly Ranger. These stupid bank robbers had a big, scary, gun-toting surprise coming their way._

* * *

Even as I was thinking this, the bank's landline phone rang out in the silence. The robbers exchanged nervous glances, then the tall one—the one who appeared to be in charge—ran his eyes over the group. His gaze landed on me and held.

"You," he said gruffly, "answer it."

My mouth opened and closed a few times, and I'm pretty sure I let out a squeal as I asked, "M-me?"

"Do I look like I'm fucking around?"

That he did not.

I stood slowly, hands out in front of me like they taught you in the movies.

Just before I turned to grab the phone, my eyes caught on Mortars. He was pissed. Shit, you'd think he'd be over it by now. I mean, his boss was dead. Can't be pistol whipped by a dead guy for ratting on him. I'm pretty sure Trotter was about six feet from caring right now.

I pried my gaze from Mortars's and forced my fingers to pick up the phone.

"H-hello?"

"This is Manuel Vargas with…with um…Who am I speaking to?"

"Stephanie Plum," I answered. Manuel Vargas? Why did that sound familiar?

"Shit, bombshell? It's Manny. You okay?"

Of course. Manny. So, Rangeman was handling the negotiations? I thought the FBI or the CIA or one of those three letter organizations usually stepped in to do that sort of thing.

"I'm fine. Um…everyone's fine so far."

"Speak up so we can hear you," one of the robbers yelled.

"Tell him I want to speak to him," Manny said in my ear.

"He wants to talk to you," I told the tall robber. "Or umm, whichever one of you three is in charge."

"Good," Manny told me. "Good work, Steph. There are three perps," I heard him tell someone.

"You do the talking," Tall guy said. "Tell them we want a bullet-proof car and free passage across state lines."

Oh, what an idiot. Even I knew you were supposed to ask for a helicopter.

I relayed the requests to Manny.

"Tell him I can't get him anything until I know I can trust him. It's give and take here; he gives me something, I give him something. I want to help him, but I can't do that without his cooperation."

"He wants to know what you'll give him in return," I told the robber.

"Fuck," I heard Manny mutter.

"Fuck," Lester echoed quietly.

"I'll give him your head on a fucking platter if you don't smarten up, missy."

"Babe?" An all too familiar voice said quietly over the line.

I sucked in a sharp breath. "Yeah?"

"Tell him to send out a hostage. Any hostage will do, but it would be best to start with anyone who's sick or injured."

"Everyone's fine," I told him quietly.

"Kids, then. Are there any kids?"

"Two," I whispered.

"Okay, tell him to let the kids go. Then we can discuss what he gets."

I took a deep breath, feeling just a little bit stronger knowing that Ranger was so nearby, his breathing soft in my ear, even if it was just over the phone line.

"They want you to send out the kids," I said. "As a gesture of good faith. You do that and they'll discuss your requests."

The robbers looked at each other, silent communication passing amongst the three. Then they moved to the center of the room, a powwow of sorts, keeping their guns aimed at the nearest hostages.

"Mortars is here," I whispered to Ranger.

"He's one of the robbers?"

"No, he's a hostage."

I'm not sure, but I think Ranger swore under his breath.

"Only you, babe."

He was silent for a few moments, then, "Santos is with you, right?"

"Yeah."

"Stick close to him. I don't think Mortars will try anything now but…"

"Okay."

"Santos still got his weapons?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Tell him to keep frosty and watch for a signal."

"Huh?"

Ranger laughed softly. "He'll know what it means."

I focused my attention back on the robbers as they turned from their huddle and the tall one regarded me.

"We'll send the kids out," he said. "But we want some cold beers, it's fucking hot in here. Cans. And they'd better still be sealed when they get in here. No funny business, you hear me?"

I relayed the message to Ranger and reluctantly hung up.

Ten minutes later, a woman near the door let out an eight year old girl and her four year old brother, the only kids present. The littlest robber held a gun on the woman's husband as she went outside to retrieve the beers, then scurried back in, locking the door behind her.

I had relayed Ranger's message to Les and he had nodded and reached back to touch the butt of his gun, as if reassuring himself that it was still there.

"What did he mean, keep frosty?" I asked quietly.

"Alert. He wants me to keep alert." He glanced around at the hostages, then over at the robbers, well into their first six-pack. "No chance I'm letting my guard down in here anyway."

The phone rang.

The tall guy nodded at me and I stood to answer the phone.

"Yo."

"Hey, bomber, everyone still okay?"

Manny again. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed.

"We're good. You get the kids?"

"Got 'em. Listen, I really need to speak with one of the robbers, build up a rapport. They'll never trust me to get them what they want if I don't talk to them."

"What do I do?" I asked Manny.

"Ask them what kind of car they want, then act dumb. Act like you know nothing about cars. One of them will get frustrated and come talk to me himself."

Sounded a little sketchy, but I was willing to try.

"They want to thank you for sending out the kids," I told the bad guys. "That was a great choice."

"Good, bombshell, good work," Manny said.

"They want to know what kind of car you want."

There was another short huddle, then the guys looked back at me.

"Four door, sedan, V-8 engine, automatic, black," the tall guy told me.

"Umm," I said into the phone. "Four doors, something about tomato juice, and black. They want black."

The fat guy rolled his eyes, while the little guy stepped forward and raised his gun. The tall guy moved towards me.

"Cut the funny business and tell him what I said."

"I did," I said in my best spoiled Burg girl voice.

"You gotta be kiddin' me," the guy said, taking the last few steps towards me and reaching out a hand. I flinched away from his hand, but he simply took the phone from me and put it up to his ear.

"Four door, sedan, V-8 engine, automatic, black," he repeated to Manny. He was quiet for a moment, then a smile broke out beneath his black ski mask. "Yeah, I guess a Mercedes Benz S600 will do."

I slid down the wall behind me and plopped my ass on the floor. This hostage negotiation stuff was very tiring.

"You okay?" Les asked me.

"Hunky dory," I mumbled.

The tall guy was still on the phone with Manny.

"…and then you'll get me my car?"

I'm pretty sure he didn't like the answer to that because his face turned red and he clenched the phone so hard in his fist that I was sure it was going to break.

"I'm done with the fucking games. You get me my car or they start coming out in body bags. In fact…" he raised his gun, aimed it at a guy in a charcoal business suit and fired.

The guy grabbed him shoulder and screamed in pain.

Damnit, I thought. If you really had to shoot a hostage, why the hell couldn't it have been Edwin Mortars.

Tall robber guy smiled an evil, knowing smile at the guy he'd shot, then put the phone back in the cradle with utter precision.

"We have to do something," I whispered to Lester.

He nodded slowly. "I'm sure Ranger has a plan. They heard that shot. I'm surprised they aren't in here with the smoke bombs yet."

"But…"

Sure enough, the phone rang.

"Answer it," tall guy demanded, pointing at me.

"Yeah."

"Heard the shot, everyone okay?" Manny asked me.

"No. Guy was shot in the shoulder."

There was some talking in the background, then Manny came back on the line.

"Request that he send out the injured party."

"I'm not so sure how receptive he's gonna be at this point," I said, glancing over at the robbers, now congregating just out of view of the windows.

"Try anyway."

I made my request and cringed as the little robber raised his gun and shot the old security guard in response.

"They better give us that goddamned car or we start shooting to kill."

"You get that," I asked Manny.

"Sure did. We're coming in, bombshell. Tell Lester to be ready."

Just as I was about to hang up, he called my name.

"Wait, Steph, Ranger wants to talk to you."

I glanced over at the robbers. They were pretty occupied watching their victims bleed out.

"Babe?"

"I'm here."

"Listen to me, I need you to do what I tell you and don't ask questions, okay?"

"Umm, okay." He sounded really serious.

"I need you to give one of your earrings to Santos."

My hand went involuntarily to the lobe of my ear, to the opal earrings my dad had given me on my eighteenth birthday.

"What? Why?"

"I'll explain later. Just do it, please. And tell Lester to remember Moscow."

"Okay."

"What the hell are you chatting about?" The little robber guy yelled. "They gonna give us our car?"

"Tell him yes," Ranger said. "Tell him it'll be out front in ten."

I gave the robbers the message.

"We want the doors and trunk open and all the cops need to back off," the tall one told me.

I told Ranger, then hung up and slid down next to Lester once more.

"Here," I told him, quickly taking one earring out of my ear and handing it to him.

He looked at me as if I'd lost it. What the hell could I tell him, I didn't know what was going on either.

I shrugged. "Ranger's orders. He says to remember Moscow."

Lester's eyes widened in a way that told me he did indeed remember Moscow. He took the earring from me, removed the diamond stud from his left ear, and slid mine into its place. Then he reached behind him, not taking his eyes off the robbers, and took the gun out of his belt. He pulled me towards him, until we were touching, hip to hip, and I felt warm steel slide against my back.

"Wha…"

"Shh. Just remember, only shoot the bad guys." He winked at me.

Ten minutes later, the phone rang and Manny told me that the car was outside.

The tall guy narrowed his eyes at me when I relayed the information.

"Get over here," he growled. "You're coming with us. Insurance policy."

Fuck.

I was about to take a step forward when Lester stood up beside me and grinned at the robbers lazily.

"Shit, I ain't never been a hostage before," he drawled. "Wish I could be the one to go. My cop brother-in-law be freakin' out."

The fat guy elbowed the tall guy in the ribs and muttered something under his breath.

"Cop, you say?" The tall guy asked.

"Hell, yeah," Lester said with a grin. "I'm real close to my sister, see. Her hubby hates it when I'm in trouble, freaks my sis out, you know?"

"Oh, we know," the little guy smirked.

"So, your sister and her husband, they'd do anything to get you back?" The tall guy asked, smacking the little guy on the back of the head.

"Well, you know, my brother-in-law could prolly do without me, but then he'd be in the doghouse, so…"

The fat guy grabbed Lester's arm and pulled him towards the door.

"It's your lucky day, big guy. You're comin' with us."

"Freakin' awesome," Les gasped. He winked at me once right before the robbers opened the door and shoved him out before them.

"Wonder what the hell happened in Moscow," I muttered to myself as I watched them all walk through the door.

There was a lot of shouting from outside. I heard "keep back," a few times, and "hold your fire," a time or two. There were no gunshots. Then, a car started, tires squealed, and I was sure Lester and the robbers were gone. I hoped to hell Ranger had a plan.

Cops and men in black swarmed the building, guns out and ready, urging hostages to exit the building and hurry to the line of armored cars set up across the street.

I was reaching down for my bag when I felt the sizzle, then lights out.

* * *

I woke up with a headache and for the first time ever after being zapped, I knew exactly what had happened. Edwin Mortars.

I groaned and rolled over, surprised to find that I was completely unbound.

"Bout time you woke up."

I spun towards the voice, and almost ended up falling off the bed I'd been placed on.

He was sitting in a chair in the corner, looking tired and resigned. His skin was waxy, his green eyes sunken. He stood and moved towards me.

"How the hell did you get me out with all those cops there?" I asked, trying to distract him, trying to buy time for Ranger to find me.

"I was just trying to make a withdrawal," he said, as if to himself, ignoring me completely. "I just wanted to get my money and get the hell out of town. Then you had to show up."

He paced back and forth at the foot of the bed, glancing at me occasionally, muttering to himself like a madman. I supposed he was.

I took the time to gather all the information I could. He was thin, as if he hadn't eaten in a few days. He was limping a bit, as if his left leg had been injured. He was armed. There was at least one gun that I could see. I couldn't tell if he had a knife or not. I really hoped that I wasn't about to find out.

"A fucking stick-up. I mean, really. How fucking ironic, huh?"

He glanced back at me. His eyes narrowed and darkened and he moved towards me.

"Why don't you just let me go, and you can go through with your plan and get out of town," I told him.

"I can't do that. I can't let this opportunity pass. He ruined my life," he ground out from between clenched teeth. "First he made me flip on my boss. I could have been fucking killed. Then he kills Trotter and breaks up the company. That was my life, you understand me? My life. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

Not kill me, I wanted to say.

"You could let me go and get out of town," I repeated. "Start over. There are so many things you could do."

"And I will," he replied with a sick smile. "But first I'm going to ruin his life like he ruined mine."

"You won't get away with it," I said, and felt like every damsel in distress in every movie ever. "You'll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life. He won't let you go unpunished."

"I'm better than him," Mortars laughed. "He never found me, did he?"

He hadn't, I reminded myself. But that certainly didn't make this piece of crap any better than my Batman.

"Now, lay back and relax," he told me, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a knife. "This might take a while. I want to make sure the image of you carved up on that bed never leaves his mind."

Oh, God. Ranger, if there was ever a time to come busting down the door, it would be now.

Mortars's arm drew back and came slashing down, tearing my shirt right down the middle. Oh, hell, no. That was one of my favorite shirts. No more Ms.-Nice-Plum.

I kicked off and flipped over the other side of the bed, moving quickly as far from Mortars and his wicked knife as I could. He feinted one way and then dove the other, the knife nicked my arm and I swung around and kicked him in the back of the knee. I'm pretty sure it was completely by luck, but he went down with a huff. I dove for the door, but he was on me in a minute, arm around my neck, knife pressed into my bare stomach.

"One move and I cut you, you hear me?"

I nodded silently. Come on, Ranger, any day now.

Mortars threw me back on the bed and pulled out two lengths of rope as if from thin air. He tied my wrists together and anchored them on the headboard. He used the other length to bind my legs. Well, I thought with some derision, at least I knew he wasn't planning on raping me.

He stood back up to survey his handiwork. A vile, sickening smile broke out over his face as he leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"Scream all you want, we're alone here. No one will hear you."

The knife came down in an arc and gasped for breath as fire seared down my arm. I would not scream, would not cry. I would not let him see the fear and the pain.

He scored a line across my stomach and I winced and scrunched my eyes shut to hold in the tears. Come on, Batman, time to rescue me.

Hot tears and hotter blood seeped from me, staining my skin, staining the bed beneath me. The knife flicked over my wrist and across my cheek and I realized with a certainty that would not be denied that this was the time Ranger would be too late. There was no coming back from this one.

* * *

A/N: Hehehe evil cliffie. Thanks so much for reading and I'd love to hear what you thought. I'll try to have my next chapter of Between the Lines (the robbery from Ranger's POV) up soon.

If you're into Bones and haven't checked out my new story yet, go do it now! LOL But really, I'd love to hear what you thought of that as well.


	20. Loved

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: So, apparently there is a limit to how many cliffhangers a writer can leave before her readers start getting restless. Also apparent is the fact that I have surpassed that number. So, without further ado, chapter 20 of Just Life. What? No cliffhangers here!

_

* * *

_

Hot tears and hotter blood seeped from me, staining my skin, staining the bed beneath me. The knife flicked over my wrist and across my cheek and I realized with a certainty that would not be denied that this was the time Ranger would be too late. There was no coming back from this one.

* * *

I was slipping over the edge into blissful unconsciousness when it finally registered that Mortars was no longer on top of me, no longer jabbing at me with his wicked blade. I struggled to pull myself out of the fog that I was in, but it was slow in happening. I could hear a commotion nearby; shouts, demands, what was unmistakably a gun being cocked very close to my head.

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision. Images swam past; Mortars wielding a gun pointed in my direction, large men in black clothing swarming the room, dark chocolate eyes hard with rage.

There was a gunshot and I screamed, flinching away from the sound, sure that it was useless and I was dead anyway. There was no pain. There was no floating sensation. In fact, nothing changed at all except for the noises in the room.

"Bobby! Get your ass over here, now!"

"Call an ambulance."

"Cops are here."

"Fucking late as always."

"Hold them off."

"Babe?"

I melted back into the bed. Ranger. I knew he'd come for me, he always did. My dark knight.

"Babe, can you hear me? Bobby's going to try to stop the bleeding until the paramedics get here. Babe, c'mon, answer me, please."

I wanted to, I really did, but I couldn't make my mouth form words. I stared into his gorgeous eyes and tried to communicate what I was feeling; pain, of course; gratitude and relief that he was here.

"I think she's in shock," I heard Bobby say at the same time that I felt pressure on my arm.

"It's okay, babe, I'm here. I'm here now and nothing else is going to happen to you. You're safe now, Stephanie."

"R-Ranger," I managed to stammer.

"I'm here, amada." He stroked a hand gently over my hair. "Stay with me, okay? Just, please, stay with me."

He sounded scared, insecure even. I wondered just how bad I had to look to get Batman to sound like that.

"I kn-knew you would c-come," I whispered. Bobby was working on the cuts on my stomach now. I winced when he pressed gently.

"Sorry, bombshell."

"Of course I came, Stephanie," Ranger said softly. "I'll always come for you."

That was the utter truth, and I knew it. It was painfully obvious in his eyes, the fear and worry he had gone through in trying to find me.

"I'm so-sorry," I said.

"For what?" He asked, moving to my other side so that Bobby could tend to my left arm.

"Making you worry."

His eyes crinkled up, but his mouth remained straight and firm. "This was _not_ your fault, Stephanie. Now relax, here come the paramedics."

He moved away from me briefly to let the paramedics take over. He was beside me again as soon as they had me on the stretcher.

"I'm riding," he told the closest guy.

The poor guy took one look at Ranger's face and nodded his acquiescence.

They rolled me down a hallway and carried me down a set of stairs and out a door onto the sidewalk. Cops and bystanders pressed in around us, but the Rangemen kept them at bay as best they could.

"We'll need her statement," I heard Gazarra say to Ranger, "but it can wait. I'll stop by the hospital tomorrow."

Ranger didn't reply, but I was sure he must have nodded or something, because Gazarra grasped my hand lightly as we passed, then stepped aside.

The whole ride to the hospital, Ranger sat beside my head and stroked my hair. I'm not sure he was aware of doing it, but I wasn't about to tell him to stop. Aside from how good it felt, I also kind of understood why he was doing it, either consciously or subconsciously. If it had been him strapped to the gurney and me waiting on tenterhooks to see that he would be okay, I'd want some kind of physical connection as well. When he'd been shot by Scrog, and I'd seen him lying there so vulnerable in that hospital bed, I hadn't been able to keep myself from touching him. I'd hated the look in Joe's eyes when he'd walk into the room and find me holding Ranger's hand or stroking his forehead, but I could do nothing to stop myself. Eventually, Joe had stopped coming into the room at all. Perhaps that had been the beginning of the end for us.

We were at the hospital before I knew it and I was being wheeled through a set of doors. Ranger made to follow, but a male nurse placed a hand in the middle of his chest and told him he wouldn't be allowed. Ranger's eyes blackened and I nearly cringed for the poor fellow who thought he could keep Batman out of someplace he wanted to be.

"H-husband," I called out just before they wheeled me through the doorway. I had never been to this hospital before, what were the odds of someone recognizing the lie?

The nurse watched Ranger for about two seconds before he nodded.

"Just let us get her cleaned up and settled and assess the damage, then I'll come and get you," I heard the nurse say just as the door swept closed.

They wheeled me back to a cold, utilitarian room with too-bright lights and two-white walls. I was drugged up on pain medication and antibiotic, and then they started poking and prodding. Luckily, the medication meant that I didn't really feel much of it. I really wished Ranger was here, though.

After an indeterminable time, everyone left the room and I was alone. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew I was waking up. Ranger was sitting beside me, my right hand in both of his, his head so close to mine on the pillow that I could feel his breath on my cheek.

"Hey," he whispered as soon as he noticed that my eyes were open.

"Hi there."

"How are you feeling?"

I took a moment to think about his question. No pain, that was a plus.

"I think I feel like Mooner after a really good batch of special brownies."

That got a chuckle out of Batman. He pulled back slightly and his eyes raked slowly over my body, then back to my face.

"I keep..." he cleared his throat and his eyes darted from mine. "I keep thinking, what if I'd been too late? What if he'd decided just to kill you outright instead of playing around? What…what if…"

I grabbed his face between my hands and pulled him around to face me. His eyes sparkled with unshed tears. I felt my own eyes fill up.

"Hey," I whispered. "Hey. Stop it with the 'what if's', Batman. None of that did happen, okay. And even if it had, you couldn't go back and change it."

"I can't even…I just…"

"Shhh." I rubbed my thumb gently along his cheekbone. His hand came up slowly and covered mine. He leaned into my hand. "None of this was your fault any more than it was mine, you got it? Edwin Mortars is a crazy bastard. None of us could have predicted or controlled his actions, no matter how much we wanted to."

"Was," Ranger said.

"What?"

"Edwin Mortars _was_ a crazy bastard."

It took a moment for that to sink in. The gunshot I'd heard, the one I'd thought was aimed at me.

"You?"

He nodded.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"For what?"

"I'm sorry you had to take another life. For me."

It was his turn to take my face in his hands.

"I would do it again," he rasped out. "I would do it every goddamned day of my life if it meant you were safe."

I nodded slowly, unable to speak. The tears that had been threatening slipped out and down my cheeks. Ranger wiped them away gently, then leaned in to lay a kiss on my cheeks, my forehead, the tip of my nose.

"I love you," he said just before his lips came down softly on mine.

The kiss was tender and slow and meant for comfort and reassurance. Ranger pulled back slowly, my lower lip slipping from between his.

"I love you, too, Carlos."

He was quiet for a moment, dark eyes boring into mine. It was the kind of look he gave me right before our clothes started flying. But we were in a hospital room, so really, I mean…

"So, your husband, huh?"

Oh, crap. He'd just have to focus in on that, right? Couldn't just let it go, could he?

"Uh, well, they let you in, didn't they?"

"Because they didn't know better."

My heart was thumping in my chest, I'm sure my palms were sweating rivers. I had to take a deep breath before I could reply.

"Umm, what exactly are you getting at?"  
A wolf grin crept onto his face. "I'm just saying, what if we'd been at a hospital where people knew us? They would have known you were lying."

"They would have let you in anyway," I told him. "People are afraid of you."

That earned me a soft poke in the ribs and a full-on two-hundred watt grin.

"So, are you saying that you wouldn't want to make your lie a truth?"

I think I stopped breathing. Was he…was he…was _Batman_ proposing to me?

"Babe? Breath, amada."

I took a deep breath and focused back on his face. He was still grinning from ear to ear. The smug bastard thought he had this one in the bag. But wasn't this exactly what I hadn't wanted with Morelli? I mean, life with Ranger would never be white-picket-fence-2.5-kids-stay-at-home-mom, but marriage was marriage, right?

"I…Ranger, I…"

He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Just think about it, okay? But while you're thinking remember that I love you, and I'm ready to do this. I want you to be mine, I want to be yours, forever. It doesn't matter if you want kids or you don't. It doesn't matter if you want to continue bounty hunting or if you want to stay at home and live off of my considerable fortune. It doesn't matter if you get fat and ugly and decide to never sleep with me again. None of that matters, Stephanie, because I love you. Para siempre. Forever, babe. The rest will come as it comes and we'll figure it out then."

I was speechless and breathless. I'm not even sure my brain had processed the whole of what he had just told me. He loved me, he wanted to start forever now, it didn't matter if I got fat and ugly. God, I wanted to cry. All my life I'd waited to hear those words, to be accepted for who I was, and to be loved unconditionally by someone who wasn't required to do so because they were family. But I couldn't just marry him, could I? I couldn't just throw my principles out the window and run to the alter with this man, no matter how much I loved him.

"Ranger, I…"

"Don't answer now, babe. I want you to think, and think hard. And when you give me an answer, I want you to know exactly why that's your answer. I don't want to hear why your mother thinks it would be a bad idea. I don't want to hear that Lula told you you'd be an idiot to say no. I want to hear what Stephanie Michelle Plum thinks. I want your honesty, babe. Nothing else will do."

I nodded silently.

"Good. Now you rest, I want you out of here in time for your grandmother's wedding reception and Ella's birthday."

"Oh, crap. I'd forgotten all about them."

"Taken care of, babe. Just get well, okay?"

"Okay."

"Listen, I've got Lester posted outside if you need him. I got a call just before you woke up that Hal's awake. I'm going to go check on him, then I'll be back, okay?"

I nodded. "Of course. Tell Hal I said hi."

He smiled. "I will." Then he leaned down and kissed me, tongue and all.

A throat was cleared from the doorway and Ranger pulled back, smile still in place.

"I'm supposed to check Ms. Plum's vitals," the young nurse said timidly.

"Have at her," Ranger chuckled. He kissed me once on the forehead, then went to the door.

"Try not to go too crazy, babe."

I had to smile. "Try not to get shot."

Then he was gone.

The nurse was looking at me like she wanted to ask what I was talking about, but was either too polite or too nervous to attempt it.

"Inside joke," I said simply, then sat back as she did her thing.

* * *

The next two days passed slowly. I was stuck in the hospital because they wanted to watch for infection. Ranger had stayed with me pretty much the whole time, but I was still about _this_ close to flipping my lid.

"I think it would be okay for you to go home now, Ms. Plum," my doctor told me on the third day.

I was out of the bed so fast, Ranger had to grab my arm to keep me from tipping over.

"You'll want to take things slowly for the next couple of days," the doctor said as Ranger settled me on the edge of the bed and knelt down in front of me. "Come back if any of your cuts become red or irritated.

"Thank you, doctor," Ranger said. "We'll come fill out the paperwork in a few moments."

The doctor nodded and left the room.

Once the door was shut, Ranger walked over to the chair by the door and grabbed a duffle bag.

"Clean clothes," he told me. He took out a pair of sweatpants and a black t-shirt, followed by a sports-bra and a pair of panties. A smirk crept over his face as he surveyed the pile of clothes, then slid his eyes to mine. "I think you'll need some help with these."

"Umm, I think I can manage," I told him shakily. The look in his eyes combined with the warm feeling created by thoughts of him stripping me naked had me in a state. I wasn't sure we'd make it out of this hospital room if I allowed him to help me.

"Relax, babe, it'll be over before you know it." And with that, he pushed me gently back down on the bed and proceeded to remove my hospital Johnny. His eyes raked my body, naked except for a pair of standard-issue white panties.

"I can't wait to get you home," he murmured softly.

I shivered.

"Cold?" He asked with a wolf-grin. "Can't have that, now can we?"

His fingers trailed lightly over the bandages on my stomach until he'd slipped them into the waistband of my underwear. I gritted my teeth to keep from moaning as he slid them down my legs and then stepped back to survey his handiwork.

"Ranger," I said, wiggling uncomfortably. "Hurry up, someone could walk in."

He shook his head. "I locked the door. Besides, Ram's outside. He won't let anyone in."

I made to reach for the pair of panties he'd pulled out of the bag, but his hand stopped me.

"Ranger, I'm not going to sleep with you in a hospital bed again."

"It was an exam table last time."

I rolled my eyes. "Regardless…"

"Relax. Next time I have you, it's going to be in my bed, so I can hold you all night long afterwards."

I couldn't suppress the shiver his words elicited. Clearly, he didn't miss it, because he chuckled lightly as he slid the new panties up my legs and into place. My bra, t-shirt, and sweats quickly followed, then he slid a pair of flip-flops onto my feet and helped me out of bed.

"Let's get out of here," he said.

I wasn't about to argue.

* * *

"Did you catch the bank robbers?" I asked as we stepped into the elevator at Rangeman.

"Yeah. Tracked them and Lester about ten miles down the road to an abandoned building. Santos had them all pretty much incapacitated by the time the other guys got there."

I smiled at that. It wasn't that I was surprised at how skilled Lester was. I mean, he served with Ranger in the army. But I just couldn't picture that side of him. He was always so cheeky and playful, with his dimples and his earring. That reminded me…

"Why did you want me to give him my earring?" I asked. We hadn't really talked much about the robbery while I'd been in the hospital.

Ranger's blank face slid into place.

"Ranger?"

He remained silent.

"Ranger, just tell me."

"Once we get upstairs," he said simply.

The rest of the ride up to seven was in silence. He opened the door once we reached it and allowed me to precede him in.

He followed me to the kitchen and took out two bottles of water, handing one to me. Then he led me to the couch and pulled me down next to him.

"I need you to understand, Stephanie, that you have been the most important thing in my life for a long while."

"How long?" I asked softly.

He looked into my eyes for a moment before answering. "Scrog. No, before that. Ramos, Stiva, the redecorating job, the diner. I don't really know, Steph, but a really long time."

"You're very important to me, too," I told him.

He nodded, but remained silent.

"It's a tracker, isn't it?" I'd guessed as much when he'd asked me to give it to Lester. What else could it be?

He watched me for a moment and I got the strangest impression that he was waiting to get yelled at…or hit.

"Uh, yeah. They both are."

I fingered my earrings. Lester had returned the other one while I'd been in the hospital.

"How did you know?" Ranger asked quietly.

"What else could they be? Besides, you said you tracked Lester and the bad guys. I know his cell phone was still at the bank, and I don't think you make it a practice of putting trackers on all your guys."

He shook his head.

"Don't hate me, babe. I only did it to keep you safe. I would never use it to invade your privacy. Please, babe. Please forgive me."

I smiled gently up at him. "There's nothing to forgive, Ranger."

He just stared at me, clearly surprised by my answer.

"I understand. If I had the resources and the know-how to do it, I'd put a tracker on you, too."

He gave me a small, tentative smile. "But you'd do it to find out my secrets. You'd track me to the batcave."

I tipped my head. "Probably."

He kissed me lightly on the lips. "You wouldn't have to," he told me. "I'll bring you there whenever you want."

"Now?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Because right now, I'm taking you into our bedroom and I'm going to make you scream so loud the paint's going to be peeling off the walls."

I gasped as he swung me up into his arms and strode down the hall to our bedroom.

"_Our_ bedroom?" I whispered in his ear.

"Oh, yes, amada. Our bedroom."

"I like the sound of that," I admitted. "And the paint peeling thing doesn't sound so awful either."

He growled playfully and tossed me onto the bed. Then he proceeded to fulfill his promise and rid the walls of their paint.

* * *

A/N: Ta-da! Thanks to everyone who's still reading and reviewing! Don't forget to let me know what you thought of this chapter. I think this is the last actual chapter, but there will be an epilogue up soon, and also an epilogue for Between the Lines.


	21. Epilogue: Lived

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Okay, so this is the last chapter! The end! If you haven't read the epilogue for Between the Lines yet, go do that now, because it takes place before this. I've written an extra long one for you, and there's _plenty_ of smut involved. Oh, and some fluffy fluff at the end. So, fasten your seatbelts, and enjoy the ride! (Pun intended)

* * *

It had been a whole week since Grandma's party and I still had not exacted my revenge upon Ranger. The night of the party, things had gotten a little…exciting. As a result, we hadn't gotten home until late.

* * *

FLASHBACK:

I pulled my gaze away from Ranger's to see what the commotion was all about. Lula had jumped up from her seat and was dancing around frantically, her hands to her throat. I was about to ask her what the hell she was doing when it dawned on me: Holy shit, she was choking!

_"Tank, do something," I yelled to him, but he was already on his feet and wrapping his arms around her not-so-slight waist. _

_It was a testament to just how big Tank was that he could get his arms fully around her and still be able to grasp her enough to perform the Heimlich maneuver. _

_Everyone around us had noticed the commotion by now. Grandma was standing on her chair, shouting at Tank to, "Squeeze her! Pop that thing right outta her throat."_

_Liam tried in vain to get her down from the chair. _

_My mother was on her cell phone, hopefully with an ambulance. I'd smack her myself if she was talking to the 'Burg gossipmongers at a time like this._

_My father had barely looked up from his dinner._

_Ranger rose from beside me and was moving around the table just as Tank gave one last squeeze and a piece of ham came shooting out of Lula's mouth._

_It shot like a bullet between Ranger and I and hit my mom square between the eyes. She blinked a few times before falling backwards onto the table behind her._

_I watched in fascinated horror as the candle that had been sitting in the middle of the table tipped over as if in slow motion and rolled off the table. There was a collective sigh of relief as it hit the ground. Then as we all stood frozen, it rolled back towards the table and the floor-length tablecloth went up in flames. _

_My dad had Mom up and off of the table quicker than anyone else could act. _

_Ranger dove for a pitcher of water, but Kloughn was already there, dumping a glass of wine on the fire. Ranger grabbed him and hauled him back a moment before the fire spiked to the ceiling._

_"Everybody out," I heard Dad yell over the chaos._

_Ranger grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the exit._

_I turned back as we approached the door. As I watched, the table was fully engulfed and the fabric streamers hanging above it caught and flared. Shit. I was going to get blamed for this, wasn't I?_

_"Go, babe," Ranger said, urging me towards the exit. "I'm going to make sure everyone gets out. I'll meet you outside."_

_Oh, hell no._

_"Either you come with me or I'm staying," I told him, hands on hips. No way was I letting him out of my sight. I wasn't about to lose him now that I finally had him._

_"Babe," he groaned. "Please, just…"_

_He must have caught the mutinous look on my face, because he gave up and simply started urging everyone towards the door._

_I grabbed Val and the girls as they came into view and shoved them in the direction of the doors._

_"Stephanie, come on," Val called back over her shoulder._

_"Right behind you," I yelled back. I watched as she grabbed her kids and kept moving._

_"I'm so sorry," Albert whimpered to Ranger as he passed. "I'm such an idiot. I'm so sorry."_

_Ranger ignored his rambling, grabbed him by the back of his shirt and put him through the door._

_The last of the party-goers were trickling out the door when a ceiling beam crackled overhead and came smashing down across the room._

"_Go, go, go," Ranger called over the noise, urging the last few towards the door, despite their obvious panic._

_Then Ranger's hand was grasping my arm so tightly it almost hurt and we were moving out the door and down a short hallway. We passed a couple of firefighters in full gear on the way out._

"_Pretty sure everyone's out," Ranger called to the nearest one. "Didn't check the restrooms. You'll want to do a sweep just in case."_

_The guy nodded and motioned silently towards the exit. He looked a little but like a demented space man in his fire gear. I let out a giggle._

_Ranger took one look at me and tossed me over his shoulder, fireman carry style. I giggled again as I took in my perfect view of his ass._

_Ranger set me down on the curb across the street from the hall._

"_Look at me, Stephanie."_

_I turned my head back to him quickly, regretting it instantly. My head swam, then pounded in my skull. I reached up to rub my temples and my hands came away black._

_I stared down at them in confusion._

"_Babe, can you hear me?"_

"_Of course, Ranger. I'm fine."_

"_You're not," he sighed. "C'mon. We're going to the hospital. I'm pretty sure you're suffering from smoke inhalation."_

_I glanced up at him slowly._

"_Ranger, why are my hands black?"_

_A slight smile tilted his lips up at the corners. "Soot, babe."_

_And when I still stared at him._

"_Ashes. From the fire. Let's go."_

_I struggled with him all the way to the parking lot. "No, Ranger. I'm not going to the hospital. I'm not. No hospitals. I'm fine."_

_We passed my parents, Grandma and Liam, and Val with her family on the way. We paused for a moment and I guess Ranger must have explained. Then we were moving again._

_Just as we reached the parking lot, a piece of the wall of the building came tumbling off and landed on the Cayenne. The explosion that followed was probably the most spectacular I'd ever seen. Of course, that may have just been the confusion and light-headedness talking._

_Ranger gave a big sigh. "An ambulance it is, then."_

* * *

I sighed as I remembered the trip to the hospital and lying in ICU all night waiting for them to decide that I was okay enough to go home. No one else had been hurt, so of course, the press caught on and dubbed the fire 'Another catastrophe by the Bombshell Bounty Hunter'.

They didn't release me until the next day. It being Sunday, I'd figured I could spend the day in bed with Ranger, punishing him for his behavior at the party. No such luck.

We'd barely entered the apartment when his cell phone rang and he looked up at me with that look that said, _'I'm really sorry, but I have to go save the world again.'_

"How long?" I'd asked.

"A week or so."

"Where are you…never mind. You'd have to kill me and all that crap."

He'd stepped towards me, his eyes shining with amusement. "I'm going to Boston," he'd told me with a quick kiss on the nose. "I have to oversee training for the new head of operations there. My old guy decided to retire to the Poconos." He'd leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "I'm pretty sure I pay them too much."

I couldn't help but smile at that.

"I'll be in the office the entire time. Perfectly safe."

Was that relief that was making me so lightheaded? Or maybe it was the fact that he was sharing these things with me when I knew that a year, even six months ago, he would have just kissed me silly and left.

"Good," I'd sighed. "That's good."

"I'll try my damndest to be back for Ella's party," he'd assured me. Then he'd proceeded to kiss me silly. And he was gone.

* * *

It was Saturday now, the day of Ella's party, 0700 hours as Batman would say, and the man in black himself was just sneaking through the door.

I checked my preparations quickly then lie back down in the bed, feigning sleep.

I heard Ranger set his bag down just inside the door to the bedroom, then he tiptoed to the bathroom.

I rolled over and smiled sleepily up at him as he stepped back out a few minutes later.

His returning smile was devastating. And the mischief in it made me even more determined to go through with my plan.

"Missed you," he whispered as he stripped down, pulled on the pair of black silk boxers, and climbed into bed next to me.

"I missed you, too," I told him, leaning over to give him a slow, lazy kiss.

"Mmmm, I can tell."

"Just relax, big boy, and let me show you how much."

I felt him groan low in his chest as I climbed up to straddle him, then leaned down and planted another kiss on his lips.

"Amada."

"Shhh. Just relax." I wondered briefly if he was noticing the parallels in our conversation this morning to the one we'd had at the dinner table the night of the party.

I shook the thought from my mind and went back to "Operation Ranger Revenge".

His hands were in my hair as I slid my lips from his, down his neck to his perfectly sculpted chest. He let out a groan.

"Babe."

I ignored him, reaching back to take his hands in mine. I pressed them into the mattress on either side of his head.

"Now, be a good boy and I might not have to hurt you."

His wolf grin shot a jet of heat south. Good thing I wasn't wearing panties.

I felt him relax into the bed, ready to enjoy the ride, and that's when I acted.

I moved up slowly, sure to dangle my assets in his face as I reached past him to the headboard. I felt his lips brush my breast just as I managed to click the open end of the handcuffs I'd secured there earlier onto his wrist.

He shot up from beneath me, but I'd anticipated this, and I was already kissing him back into submission.

"Relax, Carlos," I said, just as I snapped the other cuff into place. "I believe I warned you, payback's a bitch."

His growl was just a little less than playful as he pulled on the cuffs.

"You might as well lie back and enjoy, because you're not going anywhere," I murmured into his ear. I completed my statement by grasping his lobe between my teeth and giving a tug. He jerked beneath me. Mmmm. Perfect.

"Stephanie."

"What, batman? Afraid of letting go of your iron-tight control? You started this little game. As a very _good_ friend of mine once told me, _'you better be prepared for the consequences.'_"

I didn't wait for a reply, simply sat up enough to whip the covers off of him. The tent in his boxers was already too impressive for me to ignore. I might have let out a moan.

"You like what you see?" Ranger asked in a dangerously low voice.

I glanced up at him with as cold a look as I could manage. "Did I ask you to speak, soldier?"

"No, ma'am," he replied with a hint of a grin.

He was enjoying this far, far too much. I was going to have to put a stop to that. But, God, he was here and warm and so hard and I just couldn't take it anymore. Patience never has been my strong-suit.

I made my way down his body, kissing and licking and nipping until I was sure there wasn't an inch of his skin I hadn't tasted.

He was impossibly still beneath me, but I could feel the way his breath caught, and his heart was pounding under my lips.

"Mmmm," I moaned. "You're doing well, soldier. But let's see if you can keep just as still for the next round. If not, there'll be consequences."

I had no doubt that he could keep still even if bombs were going off around him and Pamela Anderson was dancing in front of him naked, but I was beginning to really enjoy this game I'd started.

"Yes, ma'am," I heard him murmur.

I resumed my path down his body, stopping at the waistband of his boxers to flick my tongue along the edge.

I was gratified to see that he was nearly trembling with need.

I slipped my fingers beneath his waistband and with one quick tug, his boxers were off and sailing across the room. I sucked in a breath at the sight before me. It didn't matter how many times I saw him, his pure, raw masculinity still took my breath every time. I hoped it felt just like this thirty years from now.

My fingers were tracing him from root to tip before I could even register what I was doing. I heard him suck in a sharp breath before I pulled my hand away quickly.

He groaned.

"Patience, soldier. This'll be over before you know it."

I sat back slowly and surveyed him stretched out before me like some pagan offering. He was so dark and hard and male that it made me shake with need. His chocolate skin stretched taught over muscle and bone. Not an ounce of fat marred his beautiful form. It wouldn't have mattered to me either way. He was just as beautiful on the inside. And he was mine. That made him more desirable than ever.

My hands traced their way back up his legs to his straining length and slowly, so slowly, I encircled him. His back arched and he pushed himself into my hands.

"Uh, uh, uh. I told you not to move, batman." I pulled my hands away from him reluctantly and sat back on my heels between his legs. "You know you'll have to be punished."

His eyes were closed as he replied through his teeth, "Yes, ma'am."

I didn't think I'd ever be able to hear him say that again without ruining my panties.

I leaned forward slowly, allowing my hair to brush his strong, solid thighs. I knew without looking that his eyes would have shot open at the feeling.

"Steph…"

"No more talking," I whispered, then I took him into my mouth.

His groan of pleasure, or maybe pain, was lost on me. I was too focused on the feel of him throbbing between my lips. The feel of silky softness over raw iron was enough to have my already precarious control on edge. He was sweet and salty and so hot. And I was wet enough that he would have slid home with absolutely no trouble at all.

I heard a clink of metal on metal and knew that he was straining vainly to get his hands into my hair. I closed my lips tightly around him and started moving.

Up and down, up and down. I let him slide from between my lips, and circled my tongue around his sensitive head. I peeked up at him through the curtain of my hair and saw his eyes black and completely intent on me. His hands were clenched into fists, the knuckles white.

I moved back down him, taking him in as far as I could, then slowly moved back up.

"Stephanie," I heard him gasp, just as I started sucking.

One of my hands came around and I cupped his balls softly, then rolled them gently. He was positively shaking by this point. And I was loving every moment of it.

My other hand came up to grasp the base of his cock and I started up a brutal rhythm. Up, down, up, down, swirl.

I could feel sweat beading on both of our bodies as I traced my fingernails lightly over his balls, and squeezed the base of his cock.

"Amada, please."

I sucked one last time, and was gratified to hear him growl my name just as his body tensed up and his seed spilled into the back of my throat. I swallowed every last drop.

His breathing was still labored, his chest moving up and down rapidly as I sat back on my heels once more.

"Th-thanks, babe. That was…incredible."

I smiled gently.

"You're welcome, Batman."

"Now, come here and un-cuff me so I can repay the favor," he murmured.

I shook my head. "Naw. Actually, I'm a little hungry from all that work." I slipped off the bed and moved towards the door. "I think I'll go see what I can scrounge up from the kitchen while you…recover," I said with a wink.

I heard him call out my name just before I closed the door behind me and made my way to the kitchen.

This was going much better than I had anticipated. I had had real doubts about my ability to actually secure Ranger to the bed. Now that I had him there, I have to admit, I was loving it.

Probably the only drawback to my plan was how achingly aroused I was. I was so wet, I was embarrassed to feel it on the insides of my thighs. All I could think about was having him inside me. I was pretty sure it wouldn't take much to put me over the edge at this point.

I grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator and took long gulps. Then my eyes landed on the bowl of fruit Ella had left us for breakfast. She had the day off since it was her birthday, so she'd left things that could be simply taken out and eaten or reheated without much trouble.

I took the bowl out and set it on the counter, then dove back in for the whipped cream I'd stashed there the week before. I grabbed a second bottle of water, then headed back to the bedroom.

Ranger was where I'd left him, eyes dark, fists clenched, looking murderous.

"Stephanie…"

"I'm not done with you yet, soldier."

I glanced down and was pleased to see that he was already semi-hard again. Seems batman was enjoying being tied up a little more than he let on.

"Now," I said, moving towards him. "How about some breakfast?"

I set the fruit and the whipped cream down on the bedside table and cracked open the water bottle.

"But first, you're probably parched."

I held the bottle to his lips as he drank, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Better?" I asked when he sat back.

He nodded silently, his eyes telling me that I'd be sorry if I didn't un-cuff him soon. I wanted to laugh. Didn't he realize that being punished by him would probably be the highlight of my year? I was way past believing that he'd ship me off to a third world country if I dared aggravate him in any way. And I refused to believe that he wasn't enjoying this just as much as I was.

"How about that breakfast, then?"

I climbed back over him, straddling his waist, my bare wetness against the hot skin of his abdomen. I moved back and forth a bit, relishing the friction, until I heard him groan.

"Babe…please…"

"I think I like it when you beg, soldier."

I grabbed a strawberry from the bowl and held it up to his lips.

"Open up."

He obeyed, waiting until the fruit was fully inside his mouth before biting down slowly. I think I was the one to moan this time. He chewed and I watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

"Another?" I asked hoarsely.

He nodded.

His lips were soft around the fruit as he bit off the stem. I imagined them on my breast instead. He chewed slowly, then his eyes slipped closed and a satisfied smile lit his face as he swallowed.

I gulped back another moan. How in the hell had he managed to turn the tables on me? I was pretty sure I was just torturing myself by letting this go on any further. _No, Stephanie, that's just what he wants you to think,_ I chastised myself.

"I think that's enough for you," I said, leaning over to grab the whipped cream. "My turn."

I squirted a bit on each nipple, then leaned down to slowly lick it off. His breath hissed out and his hips jerked up involuntarily. I continued down his body, as I had before, this time covering each area with whipped cream before licking it off. I was practically writhing with need by the time I reached his now thick length.

"Stephanie," I heard him groan. "I need to be inside you, please."

It was all I could take. My name and the word 'please' on his lips, combined with my ever-growing need, had me rising up over him, grasping his length in my hand and sinking down onto it.

Two groans filled the otherwise silent room. I'm pretty sure I had a small orgasm at the feel of him filling me. And then I was moving. It was like I couldn't control myself. The only things that existed were Ranger, filling me so completely, so sweetly, and the friction between us which was quickly coalescing low in my body.

"Dios, amada," I heard him groan through the haze of pleasure.

I rocked my hips, angling them for the best penetration, but I just couldn't get the friction exactly where I wanted it. I rotated my hips, rising up and pushing back down. My moans of pleasure were tempered by groans of frustration as I tried to rub myself against his pubic bone.

I was just about to take matters into my own hands when I felt warm fingers slowly rubbing me just where I needed them. I glanced down just as Ranger's other hand came up to cup my breast, rolling the nipple, then tweaking it gently.

"How…"

"Shhh."

The cuffs were completely gone from his wrists. I glanced at the headboard. Sure enough, they were still there, lying open and completely empty.

"How…"

"Batman," he whispered just as I crested the hill and fell, screaming over the other side.

My name was on his lips as he pounded up into me twice more, and then his hot seed was spilling into me and we both collapsed, sated and spent.

It was a long time before either of us even moved. Finally, Ranger's arms came up around me and held me to him tightly.

I brought my own hands up and cupped his face as I kissed him with abandon.

"How long were you free?" I asked as I pulled away.

His almost-smile was in place as he kissed the tip of my nose, then replied, "Since right after you left the room."

I gaped at him. I mean, I knew he was good, but…I'd left him nothing with which to pick the locks. I'd been sure of that.

"Batman never reveals his tricks," he murmured into my ear.

All I could do was stare at him. He was…he had…

"But you played along anyway."

He nodded, stroking the hair back from my face with a gentle caress.

"You were having so much fun. And I sure as hell wasn't complaining."

I smacked him gently on the shoulder.

"You could have easily flipped the tables on me. Why didn't you?"

I really couldn't figure it out. I knew from experience that Ranger preferred to be in control in bed. And he was a mercenary, after all. If he could turn a situation in his favor, why wouldn't he?

"Because I love you, babe. And this was clearly what you wanted. Who was I to ruin your fun?"

Tears were pricking the backs of my eyes, so I slid down and buried my face in his chest before he could see.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"De nada, bebé. Like I said, I wasn't complaining. That was…amazing."

I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and sat up to look at him. "I'm glad you thought so," I said with a smile. "Now, I'm going to go take a shower and go down to finish the preparations for Ella's party. Why don't you take a nap? You must be exhausted from your trip."

He chuckled softly. "I'm exhausted from more than my trip."

I swatted him on the arm as I moved off of him and went to take my shower.

* * *

Five hours later, I was back in the bathroom, this time with a hair curler and a mascara wand. The door was open to the bedroom and I could hear Ranger moving about, pulling on his dress pants and black button-down shirt.

"You almost ready?" He called from the closet.

"Give me five minutes," I told him.

"Okay, I'm going to call down to three and make sure the guys are ready."

"'Kay."

I finished with another swipe of mascara and surveyed myself in the mirror. I was wearing a teal party dress. It was fairly conservative in the front, but the back scooped low, revealing a lot of skin. I'd wanted to look classy to meet Ranger's family, but I'd wanted to look sexy as well. I figured this fit the bill.

I found Ranger in the living room, just flipping his phone closed.

"Everything's ready in the conference rooms," he told me. "You ready?"

I nodded.

There was no need to grab a purse or keys since we were only going downstairs, so Ranger led me straight to the door and escorted me out.

Down on three, most of the Merry Men were waiting with their spouses or dates. Ella's family was mingling with what had to be Ranger's family. My suspicion was confirmed when Lester walked over and gave the older woman a hug, shouting, "Tia!" for the whole room to hear.

"Let's do this," Ranger whispered into my ear, giving me a quick kiss before leaning back to address the room.

"Excuse me, can I have your attention." All eyes snapped to him.

"Stephanie is going to call upstairs now, can I have everyone keep silent?"

He picked up the nearest landline and handed it to me.

I looked up at him quickly with a big grin before pressing six on the phone.

Ella answered on the second ring.

"Yes?"

"Hi, Ella, it's me. I'm really sorry to bother you on your birthday, but we've got a really bad spill down here on three." I injected as much remorse as I could into my voice, careful to keep the giggles strictly inside.

"No problem, Stephanie. I'll be right down."

I replaced the phone and gave the room a thumbs-up.

Five minutes later, the elevator dinged and Ella stepped out, quickly followed by Luis, who was trying valiantly to repress a grin.

Shouts of "Surprise" and "Happy Birthday" and the Spanish equivalents went up around the room.

Ella blushed magnificently and turned back to Luis as if to chastise him. The brilliant smile on his face must have done her in, because she let out a loud laugh and launched herself into his arms.

"I had no idea," I heard her say, a huge grin lighting up her face.

Luis leaned down and kissed her. "Feliz cumpleaños, mi amor."

I didn't need Ranger's whispered translation to figure out what that meant; Ella was much loved today, and every other day of her life.

* * *

It wasn't long after that Ranger was taking my hand and tugging me towards the corner where his family was congregated.

Les passed us on the way over, his arm slung around a pretty Hispanic girl with straight, black hair down to her elbows.

"Ella's youngest daughter, Trista," Ranger whispered in my ear once they had passed.

I glanced back at Ella and Luis to gauge their reaction. Luis's eyes had narrowed, but Ella's grin had not diminished. She rubbed her husband's chest in a gentle, placating manner. Perhaps I'd been wrong about Ella not wanting her daughter with Lester. I'd come to realize lately that he wasn't the complete scoundrel he was made out to be.

"Babe."

Ranger tugged on my hand and turned me back towards our destination.

"Mamá," Ranger said with a wide smile as we approached the group waiting not-so-patiently for us.

"Carlos." A small, fifty-something woman with straight black hair stepped forward and Ranger took her into his arms, never letting go of my hand. I have to say, it was a little bit awkward.

"Mamá, this is Stephanie," Ranger said, stepping back and drawing me in front of him, his hands loose on my waist.

"Babe, my mother, Consuela" he said, then lifted a hand towards an older version of Ranger standing behind Mrs. Manoso. "And my father, Ricardo."

I nodded politely to both. "Mrs. Manoso, Mr. Manoso. It's very nice to meet you."

Mrs. Manoso's face cracked into a grin and I immediately saw Ranger in the crinkling of her eyes and the fullness of her lips. She stepped forward, and without any warning at all, enveloped me in her arms.

"Oh, it's so wonderful to finally meet you, Stephanie. We've heard so much about you."

I stared at her for a moment after she'd released me.

"You have?"

She nodded happily. "Oh, yes, Carlos speaks very highly of you. We know all about your bravery while facing those sick lunatics that you two deal with. We know how you've helped to get Carlos out of trouble more than once, and how you were there for little Julie when she needed you. We know that our son loves you. That's all we really need to know." She was positively beaming at me at this point.

Mr. Manoso stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders gently.

"Hush, Concha, you're embarrassing the poor girl."

"Sí, mama, and Carlos doesn't look much better." A woman a few years younger than me stepped around Mr. and Mrs. Manoso and grinned up at Ranger.

"Hermano."

"Liliana."

"And this is Stephanie?" Liliana asked, already extending her hand to me. "I'm Liliana, Carlos's sister."

I shook her hand. "Lester told me about you."

"Lester did? Why didn't…"

Ranger chose that moment to grab her up in a tight embrace. "Quietud, hermanita."

"I asked Lester to tell me about you all before R…Carlos got the chance. He was out of town at the time," I explained quickly. No need to cause tension between Ranger and his family. Ranger set Liliana back on her feet and stepped back to grab my hand again. He gave it a slight squeeze.

"My brother's out of town a lot, ain't that right, Carlos?" A man asked, coming up from behind Ranger to clap him on the shoulder.

Ranger's eyes found mine. "Hopefully not so much anymore, hermanito. Babe, this is my little brother Mario." He turned back to his brother. "Mario, Stephanie."

Mario stepped forward and took my hand. He shook it once, then raised it to his lips and planted a kiss on my knuckles.

"_Very_ nice to meet you, Stephanie."

I'm pretty sure Ranger growled as he pulled me back into his chest. "Mio," I heard him whisper.

Mario stepped back, his hands up in a conciliatory gesture.

"She's a person, Carlos, not an object to be owned," said another woman, as she came from out of nowhere, followed by two more women, and two men.

"The obnoxious one is Rosita, babe," Ranger said in a mock whisper. "The baby."

"I'm far from a baby, Carlos. In case you hadn't noticed." She did a quick spin, and I have to say, she looked anything but a child.

Mario stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

"Who let you leave the house like that?" he said, referring to her low-cut, red party dress.

"I did," she said, pulling away to glare at him. "Considering my roommates are out of town and they wouldn't care what I left in if they weren't."

Mario clenched a fist and looked prepared to continue the argument when Ricardo cleared his throat. Everyone fell silent.

"You will act like the mature adults I raised you to be," he said in a low voice that reminded me so much of Ranger.

"Yes, papa," Mario and Rosita answered in unison.

"Anyway," said a woman who looked to be just a little younger than Ranger and I, "I'm Celia, and this is my husband Mark." I shook both their hands.

Celia pulled another woman forward and introduced her as Elisa. Elisa's husband was Juan.

I was so overwhelmed that I wasn't sure I'd be able to remember their names if I was asked them five minutes from now.

"Relax, babe," Ranger murmured in my ear. "You're doing fine. Stronger men have quailed in the face of the Manoso clan." I could feel his warm breath on my earlobe as he gave a light chuckle. "Just one more left to meet."

He turned us slightly and walked me forward towards a nearby table. Seated there was an elderly, Hispanic woman who could only be Ranger's grandmother. She was small and dark, with snow-white hair and dark eyes that seemed to see into my soul.

"This is abuela, babe." He stepped forward and dropped a kiss on the woman's cheek. "She doesn't speak much English, so I'll translate."

I nodded silently.

"Abuela, es Stephanie," he told her, moving me forward gently until she could grasp my hand in both of hers.

She mumbled something quietly in Spanish, and Ranger leaned down to hear her better.

He straightened up and turned to me with a grin. "She says that you're the one."

"The one for what?" I asked with a frown.

He shrugged. "Just, _the one_."

I looked down at Ranger's abuela and watched her almost as intently as she was watching me.

"Tell her, I'd like to think so," I told Ranger.

He watched me for a moment before leaning down to speak to his grandmother.

When he straightened back up, he was smiling with bemusement. "She says, you'll do."

I smiled gently at the older woman. Her eyes laughed, but her mouth remained flat.

"Tell her, thank you."

He relayed my message in Spanish.

I watched her lips move quickly, some jumble of words I couldn't understand coming out.

Ranger laughed sharply, then turned back to take me into his arms. "She told me to be good to you," he whispered into my hair.

I knew there would be no trouble there. Ranger was always good to me.

"And to make lots of babies."

I turned to him with a gasp on my tongue, then I saw how dark his eyes had gotten. His gaze was burning into my soul so deeply I couldn't have turned away if I'd wanted to.

"I told her I'd work on that."

"Wha…you…"

He pulled back far enough to grasp my hand and tug me behind him onto the dance floor.

"Dance with me, babe. I want to hold you."

Now, how could I resist that? I followed him without hesitation to the middle of the room, where he pulled me close and held me to him.

"I love you, Stephanie," he whispered in a tight voice.

I glanced up as we started moving, completely taken back to find his eyes shining with what could only be unshed tears. One of my hands reached up almost without direction from my frozen brain and cupped his cheek. I rubbed my thumb gently over his lower lip as I replied quietly.

"I love you, too, Carlos."

We danced for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few songs. I could barely speak for the emotion that was now coursing through me.

I'd met Ranger's family. They were wonderful. They thought that I was pretty fantastic, too. Ranger's grandmother wanted us to make babies. That had made Ranger so emotional that he'd become teary-eyed. I didn't know what to do but hold him closer and pray that this would never end.

I glanced around the room, noting the couples standing close, arms around each other, swaying gently to the music. Lula and Tank, Ella and Luis, Consuela and Ricardo Sr., Elisa and Juan, Mark and Celia, Lester and Trista. They all looked so happy, so carefree, so…contented. I realized that there was no way I could know they were feeling those things. Those were my feelings in this moment. Here, dancing. Here with the people I loved. Here in Ranger's arms.

I leaned up to look into Ranger's eyes again. He smiled down at me gently and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

"Yes," I whispered.

He continued to sway us, his arms tight around my waist, his hands caressing my back in slow strokes.

"Yes, what, amada?"

I clenched his shirt in my hands as I blinked back tears.

"Yes, I'll be your wife, Carlos."

And suddenly we weren't moving. I was there, in Ranger's arms, in the middle of the dance floor, people moving around us, and then Ranger's lips were on mine, full of passion and yearning and something I was now aware enough to recognize as love. The people around us disappeared. The room around us disappeared. The music faded, until it was just us, lips locked, hands roaming, hearts pounding in anticipation.

Ranger pulled back only long enough to ask, "Really?"

I nodded quickly, and before I could answer him vocally, his lips were back on me and he was moving us towards the elevator.

"I'm offline," he muttered to Tank as we passed, his lips barely leaving me.

Tank grabbed Ranger by the arm long enough to mutter, "Paperwork from the government's here. Sign it and you're out."

Ranger looked at me with such joy in his eyes that it had me grinning as well. He was free. _We_ were free.

Then we were in the elevator, and Ranger was scrambling the cameras and hitting the button for seven. His lips were on my neck, then my chest and he was shoving the top of my dress drown to free my breasts. His lips blazed a trail of fire to my nipples, then he was sucking and twisting and tweaking and I was screaming and clutching at him for dear life.

"I can't wait," he ground out, and his hands were under my dress, pushing it upwards and pulling my panties aside.

"So wet already," he murmured into my neck as his fingers slid over me, then into me.

I bucked against him.

"Carlos," I gasped.

Then his fingers were replaced with something much, much better, and we were both moaning in pleasure.

I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist, and he was thrusting in and out of me in a mind-bending rhythm. The orgasm gripped me with lightning speed, and such intensity that I barely registered him following me into oblivion and the elevator doors dinging open to reveal the hall outside of the apartment.

I slid down the wall, so limp and jelly-legged that I couldn't have held myself up if my life had depended on it. Ranger caught me to him and held me tightly to his sweat-soaked chest.

"You okay?" He asked around choppy breaths. "Did I hurt you?"

"'m f-fine," I managed.

He chuckled softly before scooping me up into his arms and striding out of the elevator.

He set me down for a moment to unlock the door, then I was back in his arms and we were headed for the bedroom.

"You know you've just made me the happiest man alive, right?" Ranger murmured as he set me down gently in the middle of the mattress.

I smiled up at him. "I _was_ beginning to get that idea there in the elevator."

He stalked towards me, removing clothes along way until he was standing before me in all his stunning nakedness.

"Well, why I don't just finish the illustration here, then?"

I nodded slowly. "It would be nice to sample the goods before I commit to a lifetime."

His smile faded slightly.

"_Before_ you commit?"

I reached for him, pulling him down on top of me.

"A joke, Batman. I'm as committed as they come."

He nuzzled my neck, his breath warm against my skin.

"Good," he whispered, leaning away from me momentarily and reaching into the bedside drawer. "Because I couldn't give this to just anyone."

He opened the small, velvet box and reached in to remove the most gorgeous ring I'd ever seen.

"Carlos," I breathed.

"You'll really marry me, babe?"

I leaned forward and kissed him on the nose. Then I held my hand up and let him slide the ring into place.

"We're going to do this, Carlos," I whispered as I pulled him down for a kiss. "And it's going to be good."

_El Fin._

* * *

A/N: Thanks sooooo much to everyone who's stuck with me through this story and Between the Lines. All of your feedback has just delighted me to no end. If you haven't checked out BtL yet, go check it out now. It's just a bunch of scenes from JL from different POV. Don't forget to let me know what you thought of this chapter, or the story as a whole, I'd love to hear from you.

I'll be working on my new Bones fic for awhile, but I'll definitely be back for another Plum story before long!

Translations:  
De nada, bebé – It was nothing, babe/ No problem, babe  
Tia - Aunt  
Feliz cumpleaños, mi amor – Happy birthday, my love.  
Mamá - mama  
Hermano - brother  
Quietud, hermanita – hush, little sister (at least that's what my dictionary tells me, I never learned the word for 'hush')  
Hermanito – little brother  
Mio - mine  
Abuela, es Stephanie – Grandmother, this is Stephanie


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